Destiny 2 without Activision Blizzard is disappointing so far

More than a year ago, Bungie and Activision Blizzard announced that they would no longer collaborate on Destiny 2 . Bungie announced a new era for Destiny 2. Almost a year and a half later, our author Schuhmann says: So far, it has been disappointing. This needs to change now in the fall of 2020.

This was the break: The break between Bungie and Activision was not a hard break. No massive porcelain was smashed or stabbed at each other. It went professionally. Only very quietly in November 2018 could one see that there was a conflict between the long-time partners:

Activision Blizzard reprimanded Destiny 2 in the financial report: The results of Forsaken were “not as good as we would like” – It could not be observed that “the large mass of players is again increasingly turning to Destiny 2.” Those were unusually harsh words. You do not typically speak of one’s own brand like that.
The head of Destiny 2, Luke Smith, then said: He was not disappointed by Forsaken. They had developed a game that Destiny players love, and they would love it at Bungie too. The statement was clearly directed at Activision.

This was the only time that Activision Blizzard and Bungie had some kind of public dispute.

In January 2019, they then announced that Bungie would continue to develop Destiny 2 alone.

Bungie introduces the new era for Destiny 2

This was Bungie’s plan: It took about half a year until Bungie showed how they envisioned the “new era” of Destiny 2. There were 3 key points:

Destiny 2 is coming to all platforms, switching from Battle.net to Steam, launching on Google Stadia and no longer favoring the PS4
Destiny is moving more towards MMO – Bungie is making the game they have always wanted to make
the base game will be free to play as New Light

The frontmen of Destiny tried to convey a spirit of departure. Communication was supposed to change. They wanted to be more open, approachable, and honest. Luke Smith later wrote huge blog posts detailing his thoughts about Destiny.

Overall, the vibe Luke Smith conveyed was: Now we can implement our own vision. We no longer have to make compromises. We can finally develop the game we have always wanted to create.

Did it work? Bungie implemented all the plans they had made in June 2019. However, they did not go as brilliantly as it seemed a year ago:

Google Stadia turned out to be relatively irrelevant – for most players, the platform is uninteresting
The switch to Steam mainly brought problems with cheaters – the cheat detection in Battle.net was apparently better than it is now on Steam
The free-to-play transition was not as huge as hoped. Because at the same time, free-to-play shooters like Fortnite, Apex Legends, Valorant, or CoD Warzone were dominating the headlines. Players’ tastes have apparently changed – Destiny 2 has lost relevance over the past years
The increased “MMO” orientation was particularly noticeable in the much grinding, which Bungie now wants to scale back for the next year – that has caused more unrest and anger than euphoria and player retention

Currently, the mood around Destiny 2 is low and many dreams from January 2019 have not come true.

The separation was like a 3rd setback after the reboots

This is how it looked before 2019: Before 2019, Bungie, with the support of Activision Blizzard, finally found its rhythm.

After 3 and 4 years of waiting, the support studios arrived that Activision had announced back in 2015 and 2016. Forsaken had become a strong expansion.

Vicarious Visions (PC port) and High Moon Studios (campaign for Forsaken) provided help and more content.

After 2 reboots, once for Destiny and once for Destiny 2, the path was now clear on how things would continue. No setbacks were planned anymore after 2018.

The promises of yesteryear that Destiny should provide a “robust content pipeline” could now be fulfilled with 3 studios – at least that was what they thought back then.

Disappointing 16 months since the break with Activision

This is how it really went: But the break with Activision led to another interim year with a weak expansion, “Shadowkeep”, and a content model with grind-heavy seasons that stretched their content over months.

Players had to “experience” everything new before it became irrelevant again. Bungie has already announced that they will scale back this idea.

The support studios from Activision Blizzard are gone: Bungie has to see how they can handle everything alone while also taking on additional tasks that Activision Blizzard previously fulfilled.

Moreover, some employees have left Bungie. Many have switched to the company of Harold Ryan, who was CEO at Bungie for 16 years, has now founded his own studio and has brought several former employees to him.

Destiny 2 instead of Destiny 3 for PS5 and Xbox – Does that bring the turnaround?

This is the hope now: So far, core players have seen little that could be interpreted as an advantage of Activision Blizzard’s departure.

However, there is one plus point that can at least be suspected. It is very likely that Activision Blizzard would have insisted on releasing a Destiny 3 at the launch of PS5 and Xbox Series X by the end of 2020. As one knows from the contract, Activision Blizzard pushed for new and regular releases of the game series.

Without this pressure, Bungie can now develop Destiny 2 further and bring it to the next console generation. This could lead to parts that were already developed for Destiny 3 now becoming a really big expansion for Destiny 2.

The fall 2020 expansion could and must be significantly stronger than Shadowkeep and reach the level of “The Taken King” (2015) and “Forsaken” (2018).