To the average person, it may seem that Destiny's success doesn't make a whole lot of sense. How can a game be doing so well if the only thing players do is complain about it? While Bungie has been quick to respond to criticisms, it still seems like most Destiny fans are complaining about the game more than they actually play it.
According to Bungie's own statistics, that is clearly not the case, though. Despite the constant number of complaints, there are still legions of fans signing on to play the game every day. An astounding 3.2 million players per day are signing into Destiny on average, which is success like nothing Bungie has ever seen.
Compare Destiny's numbers to Bungie's last two games, Halo 3 and Halo: Reach. Both games were universally praised, but despite warm reception, Destiny still saw more players during its first month than those two games combined.
It's not that Destiny has a lot of players signing on for a few minutes; most of those who sign on are playing for hours at a time. Bungie stated that an average session of Destiny is typically three hours a day, even during the week (which is usually very light on traffic). Players also tend to sign in more than once per day. The average is currently 1.8 times in a single day.
Many titles see high traffic at launch, only for the momentum to stop and the numbers to plummet. A new game may be released, or players finish the game's content - either way, Bungie doesn't seem to be having such a problem. Destiny continues to pull in millions of players who can't stop complaining about the game they're currently playing. It pretty much defies logic.
Bungie is currently hosting the Iron Banner, a timed community event that re-balances the multiplayer game based on equipment. The developers have also been working tirelessly on reworking the game's loot system. A recent patch made major changes to Destiny's endgame grind. While the system still isn't perfect, players have praised the changes so far.
It seems that, if Bungie continues to address player complaints like it has been and players keep coming back for more, Destiny won't be losing its launch-day momentum any time soon.
