'Destiny 2' is coming out this year, or else

quote:

---

There were a million points of interest in Activision’s earnings call yesterday, chief among them that Blizzard is absolutely destroying everything in its path and leading to record revenue generation. But outside of that, there was one morsel of info that millions were dying to hear about:

What’s up with Destiny 2?

This week, I wrote a post where I expressed my skepticism about a few games that claim to be coming out in 2017, but it feels like they might get pushed, Crackdown, Red Dead and so on. But one game on the list, Destiny 2, had people freaking out more than most. But Activision and Bungie have both done their best to maintain that yes, Destiny 2 really is coming out in 2017. No, there’s no firm date and it’s still potentially 8-10 months away and things could change, but they emphatically say it’s part of their holiday line-up.

In the report, Activision said that development on Destiny 2 is “going great,” and that the game will have a “cinematic story and relatable characters,” as well as being accessible to new players, which in my mind, very much indicates a full reset, ie. not taking any gear with you.


But past what was officially announced about Destiny 2, well-known Destiny insider, Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, had a bit of info to add. If Bungie does miss the fall 2017 release window, there will be consequences:

“If Bungie misses this year for Destiny 2, Activision is awarded a hefty chunk of the independent studio’s stock, according to two sources familiar with goings-on at Bungie,” he said. “Bungie employees’ stock vesting schedule is also based on game releases, including Destiny 2, which gives them major incentives to get the sequel out this year.”

---

quote:

---

The glass half full way of looking at things is that Bungie has had an extra year to polish Destiny 2, and with a ton of help on the project, it should be in good shape for 2017. The silence is reflective of them not wanting to show anything that ends up getting cut (which has happened a lot during past Destiny development), and that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything to show.

The glass half empty perspective is that Bungie might be feeling undue pressure to cut corners and rapidly finish a game that simply is not ready, or else they suffer some pretty serious financial consequences and further strain their relationship with Activision. In theory, like we saw with Destiny 1, a lot could potentially be ripped out of the game or left for the future if there isn’t time to get it out before this deadline. Given the fractured state Destiny 1 released in, no one wants to see a repeat of that.

---