After a sparse alpha introduced a little doubt and a robust beta that rekindle the faith of throngs of believers, the full release Destiny has finally manifested and bulkhead doors of the record-setting game are wide open.
Publishers Activision says Destiny, a $500 million investment, has received more than 180 awards. It has been pre-ordered more times than any other new intellectual property (IP) and the games beta went into the books as serving the most players ever.
Roughly 4.6 million players logged in to play Destiny's beta and during its peak, approximately 850,000 were logged into the test build at the same time, according Activision's count. Activision's is counting on Destiny transcending video games, moving onto other platforms as did Bungie's Halo series.
While celebrating Destiny's launch, Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing Inc, can help but look to the future of the IP and its possibility to be cemented into pop culture.
"Destiny has been a labor of love and a remarkable creative journey for everyone at Activision and Bungie," said Hirshberg. "We feel that we have the opportunity to launch something huge -- not just into the gaming landscape, but the pop cultural landscape. Arriving at our launch day with this much support and enthusiasm from fans and retailers is downright exciting. Moments like this just don't come around very often."
Pete Parsons, Bungie studio chief operating officer, said Bungie loves to tell epic tales, with player at the center of a cast of villains and legends. In Destiny, the world is the stages, says Parsons.
"We're really proud of the world we created with 'Halo,' and the millions of gamers we attracted, but with 'Destiny' we wanted the worlds to be bigger and feel more alive," said Parsons. "To do that, we added in the most exciting and unpredictable ingredient we could think of: players. Destiny's worlds are connected and alive."
Harold Ryan, Bungie president, said he wouldn't rule out Destiny's draw to attract 10 million players on its Sept. 9 launch and Bungie is preparing to support 20 million gamers. While PC and Wii U are pretty much out of the minds of the staff at Bungie, each hardware generation and Halo release has lead the studio right where it wants to be.
"Destiny is the game we've always wanted to make," said Ryan. "We've dreamt of this universe for years, so we couldn't be more thrilled to swing open the doors and let fans shape this experience as they tell their unique stories in the game. For us, the next generation of games is all about allowing players to collide and interact with each other as they take on epic, action-packed adventures all their own."
