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Is Destiny Dead?

Is Destiny Dead?

Next month Destiny will be receiving its first, sizable update since the release of The Taken King. A new strike, Crucible updates, new gear, and increased light level will hopefully be drawing back some wandering, prodigal Guardians. Enthusiasm for Destiny has been dwindling, and with Destiny 2 getting pushed back to 2017, news of this update have many wondering if Destiny is even still relevant. Personally, I think that it’s still extremely relevant, but we might want to unpack that question just a little bit.

“Is Destiny still relevant?” Relevant to whom? What do you mean by relevant? If you’re asking if the game still retains the level of hype and esteem that it enjoyed shortly after the release of The Taken King the answer is obviously no, and it’s true that a large portion of the player-base has stopped logging in regularly, myself included. I’m willing to wager, however, that most of you, like me, have yet to trade in or sell your copy of Destiny , or have otherwise chosen to keep it on your hard drives. Why, exactly? Because Destiny is still hugely relevant and very important to its publisher and to players.

Yes satisfaction and enthusiasm may be at a low point right now, but Destiny and games like it are important to MMO fans. We need to know that the thrill and success of the massively multiplayer online experience can be replicated on consoles. Massively multiplayer games really hit their stride on the PC, and still thrive there primarily. When Ultima Online and Everquest were taking the gaming world by storm, we all still had PS1s and N64s on our shelves. Even in 2004 when World of Warcraft hit the scene, consoles were still figuring out how to take advantage of high-speed internet, and Xbox Live was a relatively new service.

Is Destiny Dead?

Online functionality on current-gen consoles is reliable and robust, but games are still catching up. Traditional MMOs and MMORPGs still rarely find their way to consoles, Final Fantasy XIV being a fantastic exception. For people like me who love to invest in a game world over a long period of time, Destiny represents hope. Destiny succeeding proves that a game as huge and rich as World of Warcraft deserves to be developed for consoles because the fanbase is there, and they’re willing to pay for years of content to enhance a single game world.

I probably don’t need to point this out, but Destiny is still hugely relevant to Bungie and Activision as well. This game represents an investment of over $500 million, and an ambitious goal to create a decade of content centered around a central story and single universe. AAA games are more expensive than ever to produce, and even though people like me and you see a whole list of games coming out every month of the year, that doesn’t mean that each and every one of them doesn’t represent some level of risk. Bungie – and even companies like Ubisoft with The Division and Square Enix with Final Fantasy XIV – are pioneers in the world of console gaming. They’re trying to prove that if the foundation is strong, you can build a house that lasts for years and years. It’s a big experiment, and we’re all taking part.

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