Shortly before the release of Destiny 2 Shadowkeep, a fact became known: The franchise has been hugely successful in sales in the USA since 2014. The extent of the success surprised some players on reddit, who didn’t realize how big this Destiny actually is.
This is the fact that astonished players: Mat Piscatella is an analyst for the market research group “The NPD Group.” They closely track how games perform in retail sales in the USA. They analyze the sales figures.
He tweeted before the release of Destiny 2 Shadowkeep two facts:
- Destiny has been the number 2 of the first-person shooter franchises in sales in US dollars since its release in September 2014. Only Call of Duty is stronger.
- If you look beyond just first-person shooters, Destiny is number 7 during this period of the last 5 years in sales of game series tracked by the NPD Group – that is, in the USA.
Shit, I didn’t know it was that big
This is the reaction: The numbers are discussed at reddit/Games. Usually, there is not a big fan of “multiplayer shooters” or titles like Destiny, which lean towards “MMO.”
In the large subreddit, strong single-player titles like Skyrim or Fallout: New Vegas are traditionally revered.
The comments that receive the most approval there are astonished:
- “Damn, I knew Destiny had fans, but number 2? Wow.”
- “Shit, I didn’t think Bungie would surpass Halo in a million years when they left Microsoft.”
One who presumably actively plays Destiny 2 says:
- “Destiny is like Diablo 3 – it was bad at launch, but the first expansion really polished the game.”
Not everyone is aware of Destiny’s success
This is what’s behind it: For us at MeinMMO and the readers here, it’s a bit strange to observe such reactions. We have been reporting on Destiny for 5 years. The game series has always had a prominent position on our site.
But in the “gaming mainstream,” many such “MMO-like” games like Destiny are viewed critically. It is believed that the games repeat themselves too often and do not offer enough content.
The perspective of “non-Destiny players” is often very different from that of fans.
Especially since Destiny has been negatively portrayed in the press many times due to drought phases, a weird story, and various problems.
Destiny fans have often taken to the barricades in the last 5 years and voiced their anger loudly. From the outside, one might get the impression that the franchise is not doing very well.
A news item about this long-term success of Destiny is already a rarity.
There are also explanations for the success found on reddit:
- On the one hand, the game simply appeals to many target groups – PvP fans of Halo, RPG players, people who like dungeons in MMO style, and also casual players, who just enjoy shooting aliens in the face.
- On the other hand, you can criticize many things about Destiny, but it did release a new game or expansion every September, which helps with the sales of the brand.
