There are hardly any industry insiders as well-connected as Jason Schreier. On his new YouTube channel, he has now released his first video. The topic: Why Destiny is dead.
Why is what Schreier has to say relevant? Jason Schreier is an industry journalist for Bloomberg, who has made a name for himself in recent years through various investigative reports. There is hardly another insider as well-connected in the gaming industry. When something goes wrong, those affected turn to Schreier to report.
However, Jason Schreier is not just a journalist, but also a gamer. He spent a lot of time with the first Destiny. In the first two months alone, he accumulated about 500 hours of playtime. Part 2 didn’t grab him as much. Nevertheless, Schreier has been closely following the evolution of the franchise over the past years.
No Success? No Money!
How does Schreier analyze the end of Destiny? According to Schreier, one has to go back to the 2000s to understand what a turbulent time Bungie has gone through:
- At the end of the 2000s, Bungie began working on the first Destiny. After splitting from Microsoft, they partnered with Activision to turn Destiny into a mega-franchise over a 10-year period.
- The plan was a rhythm of alternating releases: Destiny 1, then a major expansion called “Comet”, then Destiny 2, Comet 2, Destiny 3, Comet 3, and so on.
- Destiny 1 was released in 2014 after a very turbulent development. Destiny 2 was supposed to follow in 2016, but had to be postponed. Due to the delay, Harold Ryan, the then-president of Bungie, had to leave the company. Destiny 2 underwent a soft reboot, and the release followed in fall 2017.
- Activision was unhappy with the late release. Furthermore, there were increasing internal discussions about the sense of a Destiny 3. This would force players to start from scratch again. Additionally, the tools and engine of Destiny were so complicated to work with that it took much longer than hoped to produce new content.
- As Activision’s CEO Bobby Kotick insisted on the original plan, Bungie and the publisher finally parted ways in 2019. Destiny 2 adopted a Free2Play model.
- In 2022, Bungie was bought by Sony for $3.6 billion.
- During this time, Destiny 2 began to decline sharply. The player base no longer reached the level that Bungie and Sony had desired. The new expansions could not change that.
- The situation was exacerbated by the post-Covid slump and a very difficult phase with multiple large layoffs.
- Due to the skyrocketing costs of game development, a Destiny 3 that could have been tackled after the end of The Final Shape would have been an extremely expensive undertaking. The $500 million that Activision had originally budgeted for 10 years and several Destiny games would now certainly have gone for just a new Destiny. Sony was simply not willing to invest that much money.
- So, they set out to continue supporting Destiny 2 and make it more accessible to new players, while focusing internally on Marathon.
- This plan failed, and the numbers continued to decline. Therefore, the decision was made to draw a line.
In closing, Jason Schreier explains: “Destiny means a lot to me, I will miss it and I deeply regret that it will no longer receive updates. I really hope we see more of Destiny in the future because it is great, and Bungie has so many talented developers who have given their all over the past 14 years.”
You can find the video by Jason Schreier on YouTube or below:
What could happen next? According to Schreier, Bungie is currently working on pitches and prototypes to figure out what project they could take the next step with. However, there is definitely no work being done on a Destiny 3 at this time. Additionally, there is expected to be a major wave of layoffs at Bungie soon. So, the perspective for a new, ambitious blockbuster project is lacking.
The industry insider currently does not believe that Sony will close the studio anytime soon. They will likely focus on smaller projects and increase reliance on outsourcing and co-developments in the future. Looking at the industry as a whole, Schreier concludes:
“This deadly combination of skyrocketing development costs, stagnant sales figures, and rising living costs for consumers who can hardly afford a $70 game explains a large part of the current misery in the gaming industry.”
What do you think will happen with Bungie in the future? Will there be a new Destiny again? Let us know in the comments! Our shooter expert Dariusz has also been following the Destiny franchise for a long time and has analyzed the end of Destiny – feel free to check it out: How could Destiny 2 die, even though it was once so successful? 5 reasons that led to the death of the loot shooter
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