‘Destiny’ Sequel Already In Work For PlayStation 4 And Xbox One
Activision and Bungie have a 10-year contract to bring Destiny to PlayStation and Xbox consoles. So, it shouldn’t be particularly surprising to learn that Activision announced Tuesday that a sequel is already in the works nearly two months after the original’s release.
Activision revealed the work on Destiny 2 during its 2014 third quarter earnings call. This was the same call where the publisher announced that 9.5 million unique players have played Destiny.
“Players are already asking for new content,” Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said during the call transcribed by Seeking Alpha. “And on December 9, we plan on satisfying that demand by launching our first expansion pack, The Dark Below, with all-new maps, missions, gear, weapons and a brand-new raid. Work has also begun on future expansion packs as well as on our next full-game release. We’re very pleased with the launch and continuing engagement, and we’ll update you on our progress on future calls.”
That players are asking for new content shouldn’t be particularly surprising. Destiny has been criticized for its lack of content and end-game grind from the moment it was released. The Dark Below DLC is the first step towards addressing the lack of content but even that has come under fire for its $20 price ($35 as part of the Season Pass), content, and PlayStation 4 exclusive content.
Aside from the Destiny content issues, the game has recently come under fire for bugs following a recent patch that made big changes to the single raid, Vault of Glass. Reddit boards as well as the official Bungie forums have burned with complaints of bugs and now IGN has encapsulated the raid bugs with a single article.
Destiny represents Bungie’s first foray into a MMO-like game after spending the better part of a decade on Halo. The gunplay is still there, but the developer is still clearly cutting its teeth on what works and what doesn’t.
Now the question is how a Destiny sequel will evolve. Will characters created for the original carry over? That seems a given since characters easily transfer between the two PlayStation consoles and the two Xbox consoles.
Will spaceships have more meaning than a bit of loading screen customization? Will the grind of hunting for upgrade materials be replaced by something less grind-y? Will events like the Queen’s Wrath and Iron Banner provide better variety and better rewards?
Bungie has approximately two years to use Destiny as a test bed to figure out what works with players and what doesn’t. Now the question is whether the sequel hits in 2016 or 2017.
Is a Destiny sequel something to look forward to? Sound off in the comments below.
[Images via Bungie]
