Why can’t Bungie just apologize for Destiny 2? Recently, Bungie seems to be significantly more humble, but fans will probably wait in vain for an apology, according to our author Schuhmann.
Destiny 2 before the release: At the beginning, when Bungie announced Destiny 2, the developers and the community were still quite on the same wavelength:
- Bungie talked and presented Destiny 2
- The Guardians listened and wanted to know more about Destiny 2
It quickly became clear that Destiny 2 would not meet the high expectations.
The 3 major PR fails of Destiny 2 regarding the hard reset
Why is there Destiny 2 again? In the PR for Destiny 2, Bungie made some serious mistakes. It was stated that “in the logic of the game” a Destiny 2 was necessary for a fresh start for all players because
- Guardians lose their light – they get it back within an hour
- The Tower, the home of the Guardians, is destroyed – Destiny 2 provides them with a new Tower at the end of the campaign
- and the Guardians lose all their possessions – they will receive them back during Destiny 2 because Bungie constantly recycles items from Destiny 1
In addition, there were several other difficulties that we have reported on frequently: PvP was trimmed to be eSport, the grind was removed, the weapon slot system was changed.
As the months went by, a gap widened:
- On one side frustrated fans wanting an explanation
- On the other side a developer and publisher for whom everything continued to go “awesome”.
Bungie missed early opportunities to admit problems
September, November 2017 – everything is going according to plan: At Bungie’s first opportunity to express themselves about the difficulties after the launch, fans rubbed their eyes. Instead of making any concessions, “Yes, that didn’t go so well, we’re sorry” – Bungie’s PR team went through their program at Twitchcon and presented the seasons, which mainly consisted of cosmetics for the cash shop.
It became clear: Nothing will happen until the PC port is out.
This further intensified the conflict with the fans. The situation escalated when Bungie wanted to present the first DLC in three live streams. Everything continued to go according to plan for Bungie while fans took to the barricades.
In November, they almost said “Sorry”
November, December 2017: At Bungie, the great “Almost, but not quite” apology tour began.
The tactic was to admit 2 mistakes now:
- Yes, we read a lot of criticism and we agree that we could communicate better – Translated: So we are doing the right thing, we just aren’t telling you
- We agree that Destiny 2 should be more of a hobby – Translated: Actually, we have a great game, just not right now for those who are complaining here
The two statements continued through the next months of communication. Actually, everything from November to April boiled down to one of the two statements. Over the months, it was also added:
- We need more hero moments in PvP. Destiny is better when things are out of control
- And “Exotic weapons should feel exotic again”
From publisher Activision there were similar signals. Generally crazy success messages with the catch: “There is a lot of feedback coming in, but we are working on it.”
Fans want an apology
Where is the apology? What fans have missed over all these months is a clear acknowledgment: “That was nothing.”
Because such a thing is lacking, the mood was tense for months. Especially Game Director Luke Smith felt the repercussions. As he was the frontman of the Destiny 2 PR campaign, fans expect an apology from him.
When Smith then ended a tweet about Destiny 2 feedback with “Don’t be jerks”, he felt the wrath of the people.
One of the nicer responses from a fan: “You killed Destiny. Why do you still have a job? Go flip burgers.”
“Just say it’s dumb”
Bungie, do it like The Division: Players repeatedly demand a “The Division” moment. In August 2016, the team of Ubisoft’s shooter admitted: “Our game isn’t fun.”
After that, The Division tried a realignment, which apparently went quite well.
Bungie is also trying a similar restructuring, but from the fans’ perspective, they still seem to be avoiding an apology. However, a visible change is taking place.
Bungie now more humble
April 2018 – you can feel the change: If you followed the Destiny stream for the new DLC Warmind, Bungie seems significantly more humble than before. Instead of three elongated streams for the new DLC, there was only one stream – but it was packed with information.
They now refrain from superlatives. In November, Community Manager DeeJ had ridiculed himself in front of the Destiny veterans by promising outrageous rewards – the best of all time. What came was probably recorded in the history books. Instead of a chest, there were actually two chests containing “two tokens and a blue”. This became the hashtag on Twitter. The stream at that time marked the low point for Destiny.
Today, they keep it low-key. They emphasize repeatedly: “We listened to player feedback.”
Now they are also seeking proximity to the community, having invited streamers to a summit – much like the struggling games The Division and The Elder Scrolls Online did.
So it appears that a change is indeed taking place at Bungie. However, it is unlikely that there will be an apology.
“No one is to blame”
Who is supposed to apologize? When it comes to the background of Destiny 2’s development, the conclusion is drawn that apparently no one feels guilty for what they have presented to the players:
When a fan spoke with Bungie employees, he reported that many of the developers were also dissatisfied with the game, but repeatedly the justification heard was “There was too little time, we just weren’t able to finish.”
The head of the game, Luke Smith, whom fans would like to see crawling to Canossa, was probably only appointed to his position late after a reboot. Smith could no longer enforce his visions. Furthermore, Smith has again withdrawn from the public eye as scheduled – but not out of cowardice. He did the same after The Taken King when fans still loved him.
Why is there no apology? When looking for culprits, at Bungie, one finds no one except two empty exec chairs. There are two departures of key figures that became known:
- One is the head of the studio, Harold Ryan, who stepped down in early 2016
- Also, the story chief CJ Cowan left in April 2016. He presumably held the position before Smith in Destiny 2’s leadership.
There are no insights into why the two left Bungie. No statements are expected from them either.
Bungie’s studio discipline is well-known: Very little gets out. The last “leaks” regarding studio internals are years old.
If one seeks the actual guilty party, they will probably end up with the exaggerated schedule for the Destiny franchise that Activision and Bungie established in 2010: Every odd year two DLCs and a major expansion. Every even year two DLCs and a new game. And this continuously over a period of 10 years.
If Bungie wants to cite this master plan as an excuse, the fingers will likely inevitably point to their own executives and the bosses at Activision.
Therefore, it is unlikely that there will be an apology in the future, but hopefully a change.
