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Bloomberg: Destiny 'Payback' was a spin off third person shooter, Final Shape didn't sold well, Bungie was planning to rebrand Destiny 2

Loomy

Banned
Keep in mind that Destiny is technically F2P, so the high number of players may not be spending a dollar on content.

But yes, the game is hilariously hostile to new players in terms of onboarding. Lightfall really should have been a season. The story was so bad with a villain no one gives 2 shits about anymore.
 

Hero_Select

Member
You know it's a shame but Destiny 2 is extremely inaccessible to new players. I tried to get into it once and was immediately bombarded with way too many markers on my map.

I spent about an hr running around a planet doing missions and then just nopped out - felt like I was doing the wrong content.
 

SHA

Member
Possibly the worst acquisition in gaming history, certainly for the amount paid. Just more bad news for Sony first party studios, Bungie was meant to lead the GaaS charge for PlayStation but they dropped the ball and no one else picked it up. Bungie will be closed in less than 2 years and anyone who saw what these guys did in their heyday will realise how tragic that will be.
No one can save gaas except PCs, they'll fail if they don't acknowledge the platform.
 
iu
 

Gojiira

Member


TLDR:

  • Final Shape undeperformed
  • Payback was a third person spin off that took place in Destiny universe, played like Genshin Impact, Warfarme
  • Bungie was planning to rebrand Destiny 2 to attract new players, abandoned the idea to focus on Marathon, but they are still working on making a smooth experience.
  • Destiny 2 is moving away from annual content

Now that Playstation is finally fully in control, Destiny Single Player game….The lore is so damn good, plenty of great stories that could be done, pre-Traveller right smack bang at the beginning of the Collapse just humans versus The Fallen would be amazing. Theres obviously way more potential, just give it to Naughty Dog or Santa Monica.
And get on with remaking Marathon Trilogy…
 

foamdino

Member
My biggest issue by far with Destiny 2 was that I paid for the original on Battle.net and enjoyed a sort-of semi-disjointed campaign fighting some beefcake space monster thingies and then what I paid for was just gone - they wiped the campaign, made the game free to play, chopped up any sort of story so that trying to come back in is incomprehensible. My son plays chasing exotic drops but he agrees that the it's next to impossible to follow a specific questline/campaign as everything is mashed together into a mess.

Warframe plays better, has better lore, on-boards new players better, doesn't steal what you actually bought - D2 sounds like it was always a mess of spaghetti code which made it difficult to add new content etc, but the business decisions and the way the story is delivered (or not) make it a complete flop to me.

Sony should have bought Digital Extremes or Grinding Gear Games if they wanted live-service expertise, not Bungie. (they did get some of the best "gunplay feel" devs going, which I guess is why they also bought firewalk as apparently concord does feel great, just everything else about that game is off)
 

clarky

Gold Member
Taking Into the Light update as an example for content to come is probably the wise decision. The update literally brought back Destiny 2 from its lowest morale point.
Means no rhythmic releases but staggered ones with probably a cool mini Dungeon exotic quest paired with a very grindy good activity.

If they commit to a staggered release this might play into their FOMO strategy with Destiny having the best player retention record already. Its attracting new players that is the problem.

I just can't believe they weren't making money because the game is just so popular. Consistently being under Top20 played games on Steam even with historic lows with Lightfall.
You think the are going to give anything substantial away for free? It will just be a small team freshening things up from time to time with new modes and more recycled content.

@ the bolded. The player retention is not the best how do you figure that? They are at pre TFS number already just a couple of months after launch. And with the onboarding of new players so bad the only way is down from here imo. They'll be at 20k CCU or worse by Christmas IMO.

This is not a good looking graph:

4EPoUj5.png
 

Zannegan

Member
That's too bad about Payback. I would certainly have been interested in a more exploration-centric Destiny that delivered on the promise of that first unveiling.
 

Raven117

Member
The Final Shape was actually pretty great.

But, Lightfall was just too terrible. The end of the line for too many absolutely bone-headed decisions by Bungie.

The have it straight now for the most part. But too little, too late.
 
A complete mess. Bungie has mismanaged this franchise (and themselves) into oblivion.

The fact they insist on sticking with D2 without any more expansions is lunacy. The fact they didn't have a Destiny 3 in the works AND Sony didn't immediately order them to start making it is even more insane.

And no wonder player numbers are cratering. Have you seen the current season? It's completely God awful garbage. Just a giant gay love soap opera. Terrible.

What is even the point of Sony owning them now? Their live service initiative is quite clearly self-destructing and all of Bungie's own projects are detonating as well. It really feels like Sony threw a shitload of money down the toilet with this purchase.

At this point they are gambling absolutely everything on Marathon... for some reason.

I will be surprised if Bungie still exists in a few years.
 
Honest question to those who play Destiny 2 regularly. Why in the hell does the game throw me straight into a seemingly random campaign, and world, every time I launch it? I get that when it leads you into the newest content, but this just seems fucking random.
 
Taking Into the Light update as an example for content to come is probably the wise decision. The update literally brought back Destiny 2 from its lowest morale point.
Means no rhythmic releases but staggered ones with probably a cool mini Dungeon exotic quest paired with a very grindy good activity.

If they commit to a staggered release this might play into their FOMO strategy with Destiny having the best player retention record already. Its attracting new players that is the problem.

I just can't believe they weren't making money because the game is just so popular. Consistently being under Top20 played games on Steam even with historic lows with Lightfall.

That's the weird thing with these GaaS games, it isn't necessarily about popularity but what % of players are buying additional content. Maybe they lost some critical whales along the way somewhere.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
You think the are going to give anything substantial away for free? It will just be a small team freshening things up from time to time with new modes and more recycled content.

@ the bolded. The player retention is not the best how do you figure that? They are at pre TFS number already just a couple of months after launch. And with the onboarding of new players so bad the only way is down from here imo. They'll be at 20k CCU or worse by Christmas IMO.

This is not a good looking graph:

4EPoUj5.png
The spike is my point about player retention (in long term) like Halo players. Not player retention week on week, poor choice of words by me.
No matter what, if there is a Destiny expansion almost all of the core players come back, sometimes guaranteed - if the content is actually good which was the case with with Into the Light.

So solution might be to not throw big annual expansions but throw mini contained expansions 2 times an year which makes that spiky graph better and chance to attract new players.
 
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Nydius

Gold Member
People want something new Destiny 2 is 7 years old

Plenty of "old" games thrive, so long as they release content at a regular cadence and they don't start to feel overwhelming or borderline abusive toward their players. Games like Warframe, stand as an example. Destiny 2 could easily stand the test of time, but they screwed themselves with things like extreme FOMO chasing, content vaulting, overextending on Eververse, and turning the newcomer experience into a complete shitshow designed to funnel people into paying for the latest content.
 
They are at pre TFS number already just a couple of months after launch. And with the onboarding of new players so bad the only way is down from here imo. They'll be at 20k CCU or worse by Christmas IMO.

This is not a good looking graph:

4EPoUj5.png
No need to cherry-pick, the numbers are bad enough. "Pre TFS" was the Into the Light content pack which juiced up the player count quite a bit. You conveniently left off the actual pre-TFS low, which it hasn't quite sunk back to yet. Though with the new Episodes so far going over like a wet fart, and no more real expansions on the horizon, it might not be all that long. And the dip is definitely harsher than the post-Lightfall dip.

Honest question to those who play Destiny 2 regularly. Why in the hell does the game throw me straight into a seemingly random campaign, and world, every time I launch it? I get that when it leads you into the newest content, but this just seems fucking random.
Don't worry, it's fucking annoying to D2 regulars as well. I'll be trying to knock out three clears of the dungeon or something and my second and third characters will dump me into unskippable cutscenes and loads me into content I have zero reason to do on extra characters.

I couldn't tell you what the actual logic is beyond 'drive seasonal engagement' or something. A popup when a new season drops giving you the option to Launch Season or Politely Decline is literally all one would need. They have no problem bombarding you with login popups anyway. They'd just have to engineer, *gasp*, buttons.

I haven't really gotten into any other MMO type game so I don't know how other games do it. But biggest issue is they really failed at storytelling. The original Destiny campaign.... if they hadn't recently recycled the final boss fight I wouldn't have even remembered what it was vaguely about.

Destiny 2's original campaign was pretty coherent and a good jumping off point. So they deleted it. Forsaken was one of the best expansions they did, pretty good and coherent storytelling. Deleted.

Beyond Light and Lightfall are side story filler. Shadowkeep is recycled trash.

Witch Queen and The Final Shape are good campaigns but not starting points for the story/lore/world/whatever.

The (recently undone) sunsetting of old gear shows they couldn't stick with a plan. The whole point supposedly was so they could stop power creep, then they proceeded to power creep everything with every new content drop anyway.

They didn't maintain the old "free" content, which is what new players should probably be doing, which leaves new players with no clear direction. I think part of that is that they didn't sell a subscription, but instead expansions and seasons. It just feels like from a maintenance perspective a subscription model was the play to make.

But it's monetized kind of like COD games, except COD releases an actual game on a yearly cadence, to some extent uhhh... imagining what can be... unburdened by what has been... so to speak. Destiny makes you clear old unmaintained content to get all your class unlocks and weapons sorted. Like, if you don't grab all the content you're just going to not have access to certain exotics that do very specific and important jobs.

It also doesn't help that so much has changed, subclass 3.0 and the darkness/prismatic subclasses are so different than what the game launched with. Plus the deleted campaigns... I, as a veteran player, actually have zero clue what a new player is tasked with doing to sort out all their unlocks as the original progression systems are all gone. So, trying to help a newer player becomes super annoying.
 

clarky

Gold Member
No need to cherry-pick, the numbers are bad enough. "Pre TFS" was the Into the Light content pack which juiced up the player count quite a bit. You conveniently left off the actual pre-TFS low, which it hasn't quite sunk back to yet. Though with the new Episodes so far going over like a wet fart, and no more real expansions on the horizon, it might not be all that long. And the dip is definitely harsher than the post-Lightfall dip.
Didnt cherry pick i just pulled up the last three months. No need to play defence mate I'm something of a Destiny vet myself.

Destiny used to hold at around 100k CCU, today we are at half that, which must be a huge hit to their bottom line. Just after a really good expansion as well, they can't be happy with the numbers.
 
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Yoboman

Member
Plenty of "old" games thrive, so long as they release content at a regular cadence and they don't start to feel overwhelming or borderline abusive toward their players. Games like Warframe, stand as an example. Destiny 2 could easily stand the test of time, but they screwed themselves with things like extreme FOMO chasing, content vaulting, overextending on Eververse, and turning the newcomer experience into a complete shitshow designed to funnel people into paying for the latest content.
Destiny 2 and Warframe have basically identical player counts right now. Bungie want to be operating a level above that

Destiny 2 is just operating within its niche now, hard to get into for newcomers as you said. Bungie used to be the Devs launching cultural events every few years, not churning out content for an increasingly smaller niche of repeat buyers
 

Mr.ODST

Member
Game should of stayed like Destiny 1 where the DLC was like a full content addition without grinding endless battlepasses etc, Destiny 1 was unreal they just released content slower but every XPac was quite decent
 

BIGWORM

Member
You think the are going to give anything substantial away for free? It will just be a small team freshening things up from time to time with new modes and more recycled content.

@ the bolded. The player retention is not the best how do you figure that? They are at pre TFS number already just a couple of months after launch. And with the onboarding of new players so bad the only way is down from here imo. They'll be at 20k CCU or worse by Christmas IMO.

This is not a good looking graph:

4EPoUj5.png
You hate to see it. I think this is the last of Bungie as we knew it. =(
 

Sleepwalker

Member
Realistically where are the new players coming from? Destiny 2 is old as fuck.

As someone who hasnt played destiny 1 or 2 it feels like a gargantuan task to even try to get into these behemoths.

They need a new game, be it destiny 3, a reboot or a new IP so that they can attract new players.

Annual releases and endless sequels are bad but Destiny 2 is 7 years old now, and its a game with a story and campaign. Aint nobody got time for that.
 
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Sleepwalker

Member
No need to cherry-pick, the numbers are bad enough. "Pre TFS" was the Into the Light content pack which juiced up the player count quite a bit. You conveniently left off the actual pre-TFS low, which it hasn't quite sunk back to yet. Though with the new Episodes so far going over like a wet fart, and no more real expansions on the horizon, it might not be all that long. And the dip is definitely harsher than the post-Lightfall dip.


Don't worry, it's fucking annoying to D2 regulars as well. I'll be trying to knock out three clears of the dungeon or something and my second and third characters will dump me into unskippable cutscenes and loads me into content I have zero reason to do on extra characters.

I couldn't tell you what the actual logic is beyond 'drive seasonal engagement' or something. A popup when a new season drops giving you the option to Launch Season or Politely Decline is literally all one would need. They have no problem bombarding you with login popups anyway. They'd just have to engineer, *gasp*, buttons.

I haven't really gotten into any other MMO type game so I don't know how other games do it. But biggest issue is they really failed at storytelling. The original Destiny campaign.... if they hadn't recently recycled the final boss fight I wouldn't have even remembered what it was vaguely about.

Destiny 2's original campaign was pretty coherent and a good jumping off point. So they deleted it. Forsaken was one of the best expansions they did, pretty good and coherent storytelling. Deleted.

Beyond Light and Lightfall are side story filler. Shadowkeep is recycled trash.

Witch Queen and The Final Shape are good campaigns but not starting points for the story/lore/world/whatever.

The (recently undone) sunsetting of old gear shows they couldn't stick with a plan. The whole point supposedly was so they could stop power creep, then they proceeded to power creep everything with every new content drop anyway.

They didn't maintain the old "free" content, which is what new players should probably be doing, which leaves new players with no clear direction. I think part of that is that they didn't sell a subscription, but instead expansions and seasons. It just feels like from a maintenance perspective a subscription model was the play to make.

But it's monetized kind of like COD games, except COD releases an actual game on a yearly cadence, to some extent uhhh... imagining what can be... unburdened by what has been... so to speak. Destiny makes you clear old unmaintained content to get all your class unlocks and weapons sorted. Like, if you don't grab all the content you're just going to not have access to certain exotics that do very specific and important jobs.

It also doesn't help that so much has changed, subclass 3.0 and the darkness/prismatic subclasses are so different than what the game launched with. Plus the deleted campaigns... I, as a veteran player, actually have zero clue what a new player is tasked with doing to sort out all their unlocks as the original progression systems are all gone. So, trying to help a newer player becomes super annoying.
This sound like straight up cancer as I suspected. Ive been willing to give it a try a couple times over the past year or two but it always felt intimidating.
 
They should have had a crazy idea like make a great $70 non-GaaS game, collect money just from that purchase, start working on next game.

I’m available for consulting, I don’t come cheap though.
 

Wooxsvan

Member
I wanted World of Warcraft 2 but never got it. Destiny 1 (alpha) gave me that magical WoW feeling again and its been just a bad x-girlfriend ever since. Glad i finally broke up 2 expansions ago and havent wasted money on them. Goodbye Bungo.
 

wipeout364

Member
I remember playing Destiny 1 and being shocked at how terrible the lore and story was. Honestly I thought it was so bad I never played Destiny 2. Did Bungie actually hire some decent writers for Destiny 2?

Also I noticed Luke Smith got shitcanned left on good terms.
 

BIGWORM

Member
I remember playing Destiny 1 and being shocked at how terrible the lore and story was. Honestly I thought it was so bad I never played Destiny 2. Did Bungie actually hire some decent writers for Destiny 2?

Also I noticed Luke Smith got shitcanned left on good terms.
There was so damn good writing from the Forsaken expac, but that's what everyone will say. Witch Queen was real good, expanding on the Darkness in a big way. The Final Shape was up there as far as writing, bringing an end to the 10-year Light vs Darkness saga. Writing had some ups and downs.

We don't talk about Curse of Osiris.
 

Moochi

Member
Destiny's art style is a relic. The halo-esque armors aren't distinctive anymore. The proliferation of that into so many brands has diluted the visual identity to nothing.
Destiny as a brand has none of this.
 

Zannegan

Member
Destiny's art style is a relic. The halo-esque armors aren't distinctive anymore. The proliferation of that into so many brands has diluted the visual identity to nothing.
Destiny as a brand has none of this.
At least it's not Magentapunk with exaggerated proportions. And I think knight-esque cloaks and sigils in combination with the armors is fairly distinctive, though you do have a point.
 
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