'Destiny' delivers a new chapter in Bungie's legacy
Destiny, the long-awaited blockbuster video game from the makers of the hit Xbox Halo series, is set to liftoff on Tuesday.
How high it soars after its Tuesday release remains to be seen.
Game publisher Activision Blizzard has hopes that Destiny ($60-up, for ages 13-up) will be its latest billion-dollar franchise and plans to invest as much as $500 million during the planned 10-year deal with game studio Bungie on manufacturing, infrastructure, marketing and development.
Retailers such as GameStop and Best Buy have special midnight events Monday night for the game's arrival.
Anticipation has analysts tapping Destiny as the year's top-selling game, surpassing even another Activision treasure: Call of Duty Advanced Warfare (out Nov. 4). With predicted eventual total sales of 12 million to perhaps 20 million copies, Destiny could generate more than $1 billion in revenue.
And that's not all. Desire to play the game on the newest game systems, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, could drive hardware sales, too. The game is also available on the PS3 and Xbox 360, but the game's strange new worlds, fantastical aliens and customizable characters will look better on the newer systems.
To capitalize on the Destiny din, Microsoft this week is giving a free disc-based game – including Destiny starting Tuesday -- to those who buy an Xbox One, priced at $399. Sony as a special white Destiny-themed PS4 with 500 Gigabyte hard drive and the game for $449.99, just $50 more than the standard model.
"We expect PS4 and Xbox One sales to rebound … likely picking up markedly with the launch" of Destiny, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said in a recent note to clients. "We believe the Xbox One bundles provide enough value to potentially push Xbox One console sales beyond those of the PS4 for only the second month since launch."
Since both systems launched in November, Sony says it has sold more than 10 million PS4 systems. Microsoft has said it has shipped 5 million Xbox Ones, but it is expanding the number of markets it is available to 28 this month (China, Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as many European and Middle Eastern countries).
At the Bellevue, Wash.-based Bungie, talk about what to do next began after the 2001 release of Halo: Combat Evolved for the original Xbox. But Bungie would go on to develop sequels Halo 2 (2004) and Halo 3 (2007), as well as Halo: ODST (2009) and Halo: Reach (2010).
In 2009, the studio began to focus on life after Halo -- Microsoft-owned 343 Industries oversees the franchise now and has Halo: The Master Chief Collection, remastered versions of the earlier Halo games, due Nov. 11 for Xbox One, and Halo 5: Guardians expected next year.
The goal with Destiny, says chief operating officer Pete Parsons, is to "put the player and our community at the center of everything we do, let them become legends and share that experience with their friends even if they want to play by themselves," he says.
Unlike the straightforward first-person sci-fi shooter Halo games, Destiny mashes up not only science fiction and fantasy – with reverential nods to Star Trek and Star Wars – but also different types of game play. At times, you direct your character alone as the story unfolds, while other sections incorporate Call of Duty-styled combat sessions and World of Warcraft-esque raids that require teamwork.
The setting is in the distant future on the last safe city on Earth and the player takes the role of one of the city's guardians. But to protect the city, you must seek out new adventures on the moon, Mars and Venus.
"Your goal is to reach back out to the stars and reclaim our lost worlds and evict the hostile invaders from the worlds that are rightfully ours," says Bungie community manager David Dague. "The first question I answer in Destiny is, 'How do I get off of Earth?' I need a jump drive, I need to equip myself with the things I need to be a hero of this solar system."
More than 4.6 million got to explore the Destiny universe during a July beta test. That allowed the developers to see how the game responded to real-world players.
Allowing players to move between story segments "where we make you the most important thing in the universe," Parsons says, seamlessly to social and public places "are massive technical challenges. ... We think this is really powerful but we didn't now how fun it was until we actually populated that world."
Bungie's developers hope to have crafted a game that has something for players of all levels and interests. "We have great epic moments and thoughtful moments," Parsons says. "A lot of people can play it. It's a hopeful place."
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider
