‘Destiny 2’ Release Reportedly Pushed Back, Bungie’s Direction Unclear
The development of Destiny continues to take odd twists and turns. A new report Friday indicates the development of Destiny 2 has been just as tumultuous as the original, which led to a delay of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One shooter.
Destiny 2 has been delayed out of the originally planned September 2016 release, according to a report by Kotaku‘s Jason Schreier. While neither Activision nor Bungie ever confirmed a release date for the sequel, contract details between the publisher and developer laid out release plans for the game, its downloadable content, and all of its sequels over the next ten years. Those high-level plans now appear to have been scrapped along with the planned paid content for Year Two.
According to the Kotaku‘s sources, the decision to push back the release of Destiny 2 occurred within the last week. The report also does not do much to engender confidence in the behind-the-scenes action with the game either.
As previously covered by Inquisitr, Bungie’s development tools created for Destiny are a huge road block to modifying or creating new content. Simple changes require massive amounts of time when they should only take a “half-second.” This led to an overall poor reception of The Dark Below DLC and the lack of a Raid with the House of Wolves expansion. Ultimately, Bungie decided to scrap paid DLC plans for Year Two because it couldn’t produce the necessary content while also working on the sequel with the help of High Moon Studios.
Another example of internal Destiny development problems cropped up just yesterday in Bungie’s first weekly update of 2016. Design Lead Lars Bakken confirmed the Crucible Matchmaking system was changed without telling players. This admission came after fellow designer Derek Carroll denied such changes back in December.
Carroll’s explanation, following the revelation last night, indicates the kind of problems going on behind the scenes at Bungie. The developer explained on Twitter that changes were made without his knowledge.
He added, “I can’t always tell you guys the Whole Story (we’re a secretive lot), but I try not to mislead anyone or cause bad feelings.”
These issues have created a sort of paralysis with Bungie’s leadership and has contributed to the lack of communication with fans and even among the Destiny developers themselves. Reportedly, many of members of the leadership team were not aware of the sequel delay prior to the report.
This back and forth has led Bungie leaders to not lay out a roadmap for fans and to keep everything tight to the vest. They do not want to “hint at anything unless they’re sure they’ll actually be able to deliver it,” according to the Kotaku report.
The Destiny community continues to grow more and more restless while Bungie leadership vacillates about what to do and when to announce it. The game’s Reddit community continues to be ravenous for information, as do the Bungie’s official forums.
Meanwhile, Bungie has confirmed the Crimson Days event is coming in February. This is another small event on par with the Festival of the Lost. A second, larger update is planned for later this year, but the developer is staying true to form and offering no information at this time.
[Image via Bungie]
