Since its launch, Destiny 2 has been the recipient of its fair share of criticism in the constant game of cat and mouse that developers and players seem to enjoy – a change is made to keep the game fresh, players let the developers know this change isn’t great, and further changes are made. It’s a tale that every online game faces to deliver something good enough to keep players around.
Whilst this development cycle isn’t something unique to bigger AAA studios like Bungie, as much of the same feedback and concern has been seen through smaller studios on different device, in recent times that largely means games like these casinos not on gamstop, the bigger studios certainly capture some of the brunt for being more out of touch than they should be.
Over the past year there has been a number of statements from the developer, largely through their State of the Game or State of the Union addresses, that have rubbed players the wrong way, largely due to a lack of resourcing required to deliver the game that players want. Bungie have stated that there is only a limited team currently able to work on the game, and with that certain aspects are in active development whilst others are left behind.
Most recently, there has been a huge push for the PvE side of the game with fresh PvE content and a satisfied group of players enjoying this game mode, on the other side of the coin are the PvP audience who feel they’ve been neglected in recent updates. Looking at some of the larger community platforms, the sentiment is that the game has reached an age where Bungie seemingly may not be willing to dedicate the resources to grow the game in the way players would be hopeful to see, leaving much of the game being neglected.
Whilst this would usually be something that players could overlook, after all the game is closing in on seven years old, as has been the case since day one and since the first game, monetization of the game muddies the waters. Whilst aspects of the game are in dire straits, the Eververse has never looked better – new high-quality cosmetics available at a premium are readily available whilst non-monetization-based content has taken a dive in quality.
With each expansion for the game already coming in at a premium cost, players feel let down that not only do they have to pay $100 for a game update every few months, but the stuff that they’re getting in these updates looks worse than a $20 microtransaction purchase from the Eververse. This isn’t an issue unique to Destiny, and something that has become more common since the introduction of microtransactions, and battle passes to modern gaming, it does leave many fans disappointed, particularly as it is a AAA studio doing this.
It seems unlikely that there will be any successor to the game either, developers have already said that efforts are currently working to ensure the engine will support Destiny 2 for years to come, all but putting the nails in the coffin of a Destiny 3 release, and with Bungie receiving their publishing rights back from Activision-Blizzard, the studio also does not benefit from the recent Microsoft acquisition either. With no real way to know the active player count across all platforms, some suggestions put the active daily population in the 400,000 area, so whilst not a dying game by any means, there seems to be little room to continue making mistakes in the way of development before more players choose to leave.
