RolyRamen

I really like Destiny. It plays well and the world is one that I enjoy immensely. I bought Lightfall and the annual pass this year, as i did for Witchqueen and Beyond Light in the previous years.

I have barely played Destiny this year.

Lightfall was a mess at launch that was incredibly disappointing as both a follow up to the genuinely brilliant Witchqueen and as the penultimate chapter in this near decade long “saga”. The season content this year has been fine to good however, though not enough to pull me back in.

There in lies the problem, 2023 has been a banger of a year for games with multiple titles “worth a buy” each month. This means that as someone who is invested in Destiny, not even I have the time to put into it at the moment on a lackluster year.

I feel like this game lives/dies annually by its expansion that then serves to keep players invested across that years seasons. Between a bad xpac and tough competition from tons of other games, Destiny isn’t in a great spot. This poor year also calls into question what we’re actually going to get with Finsl Shape, and whether it’ll be one of the good or bad years.

Ultimately, my point is that I’m not surprised it’s not making enough money currently, or that there’s less interest in The Final Shape. Bungie have created this situation for themselves.

Can’t agree more. I don’t think there’s a studio under MS that’s done better under their leadership/portfolio than they’d done prior to their acquisition. The studios created to shepherd Xbox franchises that original studios move on from generally have never matched the highs previously seen either.

I also don’t appreciate them hoovering up franchises, via acquisitions whilst failing to develop much new that’s if any note. All it does is condemn a growing back catalogue to mediocrity or have them disappear into the vault.

Sony aren’t perfect but their studios tend to produce top tier games that look and feel like they’re a tier above most, making the most of their “exclusivity”. Most (all?) their major releases are their own franchises developed in house too, and it feels like there’s a steadier turn out of new, quality IP to boot.

Eh, battery life sure. Form factor is debatable. I prefer the dualsense personally (own both).

Given how rough this game is (was? not sure how much its been patched) on current gen and OC I'm not hopeful about an old gen version.

Really liked the game but playing on PS5, the performance was definitely a distraction to the point I put the game down and still haven't gone back to it.

My take is that they'll go exclusive as much as they can because they'll take a short term hit on copies sold if it slowly strangles the competition. Your right there not out to hurt Sony, but they'll do it if it means they grow.

They want people to get on board with Xbox or more key, gamepass and if a big exclusive gets someone to dip in then there all the more likely to stay. This doubles down if the next big exclusive is again an xbox exclusive.

I disagree with your point that smaller titles like Doom will sell systems. I honestly think the "masses" will just not play them if there not available on their chosen platform. What I do think they do is inform your choice of platform and keep you there between the tentpoles and they look even more attractive to the casual if there "free" with your subscription.

It's discounted right now as part of the steam summer sale

Really like they're doing destiny style seasons with story content. Bit annoying I have to restart for each season however.

Feels like they needed to separate the live service seasons and the traditional "ladder" seasons in this game or I can see a lot of folk dropping off longer term.