Bungie's Destiny and Activision

Community General Discussion
1

We all know Bungie signed a contract with Activision.
We all know Bungie is working on a project called “Destiny”.

Now we know what Activision wants from Bungie.
Link

To summarize it,
“Destiny” is to release on the next Xbox in 2013, the PS4 in 2014.
Activision wants Bungie to release a new game every two years, meaning the sequel in 2015, the next game in 2017, and the final game in 2019.
Bungie is now making games for multiple consoles.
Bungie is expected to release DLC every 4 months.
The article also says that Activision wants Destiny to be the next Call of Duty.

I wish Bungie the best of luck, and I think I’m going to like Destiny. Its Sci-Fi, and made by Bungie.

Discuss

2

The next call of duty?

Gr8…

3

> We all know Bungie signed a contract with Activision.

It all went downhill from there.

4

> > We all know Bungie signed a contract with Activision.
>
> It all went downhill from there.

Lets just hope there is enough room for Bungie to make a good game.

5

I love bungie for their work with Halo

But I’m not excited about their new direction

Has anyone played that awful arcade game they came out with just a little while back??

6

> I love bungie for their work with Halo
>
> But I’m not excited about their new direction
>
> Has anyone played that awful arcade game they came out with just a little while back??

What? I would like to know

7

All we know Bungie’s new game is going to be incredibly ambitious. Other than that, there’s little to no details, so there’s virtually nothing to discuss.

8

The best we can hope is that it’s good.

9

> All we know Bungie’s new game is going to be incredibly ambitious. Other than that, there’s little to no details, so there’s virtually nothing to discuss.

Well, discuss the ambition I guess.

Discuss what you think will come of Activion’s expecting Bungie to release a new game every 2 years and DLC every 4 months?

10

> The best we can hope is that it’s good.

Exactly. I hope there is still enough room for Bungie to make a great game with a great story. We know they’re capable of that.

I think I might like it. Its a Sci-Fi, my favorite genre. I just hope the limits and deadlines don’t force any bad decisions or make the games/DLC look bad.

11

Every 2 years, that’s asking quite a bit from the studio, and what’s worse is some of the stipulations of the agreement, 5 million SKU’s? Are you kidding me, that’s ridiculous.

12

> Every 2 years, that’s asking quite a bit from the studio, and what’s worse is some of the stipulations of the agreement, 5 million SKU’s? Are you kidding me, that’s ridiculous.

DLC every 4 months too…

Poor Bungie. Lets hope those games get 90 or above on Metacritic… so they can get that bonus. But the article is completely right. Its asking quite a bit from Bungie. Reach barely got 91, and that was after evolving a franchise for 10 years.

13

> > All we know Bungie’s new game is going to be incredibly ambitious. Other than that, there’s little to no details, so there’s virtually nothing to discuss.
>
> Well, discuss the ambition I guess.
>
> Discuss what you think will come of Activion’s expecting Bungie to release a new game every 2 years and DLC every 4 months?

It isn’t DLC every “4 months”, here’s the breakdown of their agreement:

Main title released Fall 2013 (Xbox exclusive). A sequel to main title (multiplatform) is to be released every two years (2015, 17, 19). In between each of the main releases, there’s to be an expansion for the previous game (2014, 16, 18, 20). In between the main titles and the expansions, there’s to be DLC.

So, overall, we have:
2013: Main title released (“Destiny”) as an Xbox exclusive
[DLC]
2014: Expansion for Destiny
[DLC]
2015: Destiny 2
[DLC]
2016: Expansion for Destiny 2
[DLC]
2017: Destiny 3
[DLC]
2018: Expansion for Destiny 3
[DLC]
2019: Destiny 4
[DLC]
2020: Expansion for Destiny 4
[DLC]

However, the DLC wasn’t specified to be content heavy, the DLC could just add a piece of cosmetic for all we know. It’s a lot of workload, but it’s nothing Bungie can’t handle.

14

> > Every 2 years, that’s asking quite a bit from the studio, and what’s worse is some of the stipulations of the agreement, 5 million SKU’s? Are you kidding me, that’s ridiculous.
>
> DLC every 4 months too…
>
> Poor Bungie. Lets hope those games get 90 or above on Metacritic… so they can get that bonus. But the article is completely right. Its asking quite a bit from Bungie. <mark>Reach barely got 91, and that was after evolving a franchise for 10 years.</mark>

Maybe that’s the reason for it. You can’t really expect being as succesful as you started after ten years and three games. So, I’d say the exact reason who Reach barely got over 90 was because they had done it for so long.

15

> > > Every 2 years, that’s asking quite a bit from the studio, and what’s worse is some of the stipulations of the agreement, 5 million SKU’s? Are you kidding me, that’s ridiculous.
> >
> > DLC every 4 months too…
> >
> > Poor Bungie. Lets hope those games get 90 or above on Metacritic… so they can get that bonus. But the article is completely right. Its asking quite a bit from Bungie. <mark>Reach barely got 91, and that was after evolving a franchise for 10 years.</mark>
>
> Maybe that’s the reason for it. You can’t really expect being as succesful as you started after ten years and three games. So, I’d say the exact reason who Reach barely got over 90 was because they had done it for so long.

True. Maybe Bungie will be able to make a great first game that hooks people in the beginning, such as CE.

16

> > > All we know Bungie’s new game is going to be incredibly ambitious. Other than that, there’s little to no details, so there’s virtually nothing to discuss.
> >
> > Well, discuss the ambition I guess.
> >
> > Discuss what you think will come of Activion’s expecting Bungie to release a new game every 2 years and DLC every 4 months?
>
> It isn’t DLC every “4 months”, here’s the breakdown of their agreement:
>
> Main title released Fall 2013 (Xbox exclusive). A sequel to main title (multiplatform) is to be released every two years (2015, 17, 19). In between each of the main releases, there’s to be an expansion for the previous game (2014, 16, 18, 20). In between the main titles and the expansions, there’s to be DLC.
>
> So, overall, we have:
> 2013: Main title released (“Destiny”) as an Xbox exclusive
> [DLC]
> 2014: Expansion for Destiny
> [DLC]
> 2015: Destiny 2
> [DLC]
> 2016: Expansion for Destiny 2
> [DLC]
> 2017: Destiny 3
> [DLC]
> 2018: Expansion for Destiny 3
> [DLC]
> 2019: Destiny 4
> [DLC]
> 2020: Expansion for Destiny 4
> [DLC]
>
> However, the DLC wasn’t specified to be content heavy, the DLC could just add a piece of cosmetic for all we know. It’s a lot of workload, but it’s nothing Bungie can’t handle.

Well, the article says Bungie is expected to pound out DLC expansion packs every 4 months, similar to CoD’s map packs.

But I guess you’re right.

Edit: Wait, you are right. I just looked at the contract from LA Times, and you’re right.

17

> True. Maybe Bungie will be able to make a great first game that hooks people in the beginning, such as CE.

Hopefully, but you usually don’t win a lottery twice in a row. Bungie isn’t really having easy time. After Halo, everyone has huge expectations on them. They practically need to do something genre defining to be able to match what Halo did. On top of that, they also need to be able to create a universe that can sustain itself for ten years in the least.

As much as I would like to believe they can pull it off, realistically I can only assume they won’t be doing such a big impact as they did with Halo. The game will most likely be popular and all like most triple A games, but I doubt it’ll be anything revolutionary or become such a cultural phenomenon as Halo was.

Regardless, I hope they can prove me wrong. If there is one developer in the industry whose abilities I trust way more than I should, it’s Bungie.

18

> > True. Maybe Bungie will be able to make a great first game that hooks people in the beginning, such as CE.
>
> Hopefully, but you usually don’t win a lottery twice in a row. Bungie isn’t really having easy time. After Halo, everyone has huge expectations on them. They practically need to do something genre defining to be able to match what Halo did. On top of that, they also need to be able to create a universe that can sustain itself for ten years in the least.
>
> As much as I would like to believe they can pull it off, realistically I can only assume they won’t be doing such a big impact as they did with Halo. The game will most likely be popular and all like most triple A games, but I doubt it’ll be anything revolutionary or become such a cultural phenomenon as Halo was.
>
> Regardless, I hope they can prove me wrong. If there is one developer in the industry whose abilities I trust way more than I should, it’s Bungie.

Activision appears to believe otherwise. They seem to think that Bungie will make a perfect franchise from the start and recreate the impact Halo had in the beginning.
I agree, I hope Bungie can do it again. But realistically, it will be a challenge.

19

> > We all know Bungie signed a contract with Activision.
>
> It all went downhill from there.

You mean Activision.
The people who own Blizzard, who have arguably put out some of the greatest games of all time?

Yes, lets shun them.

20

Here is a thread I started on B.net, prior to the court contract leak…

The Super Quick Version: Destiny will be a new hybrid genre with a single persistent universe that is cross platform, possibly cross generation and multi device enabled which mixes MMO, RPG, FPS & RTS elements.

The quote from Bungie “Eventually it will become more the gamers than the developers and will take a life itself…” (can’t remember the exact quote).

I believe this snippet of information points towards a single persistent universe that all gamers participate within.

- TL;DR - The short version -
Multi-platform (xbox & PS3, maybe PC), mutli-device (iPad, mobile phones), open world, combination First Person Shooter (FPS) & Role Playing Game (RPG) with possible Real Time Strategy (RTS) elements as well.
There will also be a micro-transaction or subscription based economy for players to upgrade, sell or trade goods and of course website integration to keep you coming back. This will take place in a single universe where all player actions, games and data are in real time to all other players.
I also speculate this game engine will either be for the next generation or already support the current consoles and run on the next generation in the same game release.
After all what is bigger than Halo? Single universe, on planet (FPS/RPG), off planet (RTS/MMO), user generated content and cross platform interaction (subscription/micro transaction)…that’s what.

Bungie already have open access to multi-platforms, they like to take on ridiculous challenges and they really try to be innovative with their execution of new game mechanics e.g. Halo 2 multiplayer, XBL chat, Halo CE FPS console etc.

Imagine Bungie’s next game with a universe where all players are in the same game data, much like Dust/Eve games.

Forget having a separate campaign and multiplayer! A single universe allows for both to become combined and a dynamic story evolving from gamers playing online.

The story is set and fleshed out from Bungie obviously giving art-style, game mechanics etc to the base game engine.

Now add more than just random multiplayer or campaign games without story/canon meaning or feedback to the universe itself.

The result is dynamic universe and game outcomes direct from players who choose to create or participate in the single universe. This is sort of an extension of Forge being rolled into the single universe of campaign/multiplayer.

The longer the game plays out online the more the community shapes the overall universe.

Now think of the website statistics or interaction…you would be able to view things at a global universe level. This could even open things up for different games, such as Halo Wars also participating back to the single universe of other games like Halo Reach.

It’s this sort of multiplatform, multi-game environment combined with player creating tools I think Bungie/Activision are aiming for.

I also believe we’ll see different game traits for platforms e.g. Mobiles devices for minified RTS/MMO plus trading systems or statistics or customisations etc. Desktops/laptops for RTS/FPS/MMO and consoles/PC’s for the full blown experience.

Thoughts or comments welcomed…

And this: When did Destiny development start? Some interesting research…

Introducing Warsoup: Claims to be Halo meets Starcraft. It’s interesting to see the genre lines blur…

Original B.net Thread