A poorly managed transition between two sagas
Before the launch of RenegadesBungie wanted to revisit the current state of Destiny 2 and how the game will move forward in the future. In this interview, the director first discusses the good reception of The Final Shapewhich brought a form of fulfillment to the game’s narrative. Which perhaps discouraged part of the community from coming back after that, since they had the feeling of having finished this saga :
“ The Final Shape provided a climax to the story, a sort of fantastical conclusion that brought many storylines full circle. Players were delighted and satisfied with their experience, and the sharp drop in attendance followed soon after. This is explained by the end of the saga. You finally got what you paid for, didn’t you? It was not planned from a business point of view. We want to continue developing Destiny; we still have a lot of stories to tell in this universe. There is still a lot to do, and we need to continue developing the game. Unfortunately, the transition was not handled gracefully, but we had to attempt a solution. »
But the start of a new saga was complicated to manage for Bungie, with the expansion The Edge of Fate who failed to convince. A terrible false start that Green recognizes, notably by pointing out the problem concerning evolution for our Guardians :
“ We analyzed the problem we encountered after The Final Shape update and said to ourselves, “There’s an avenue to explore,” focusing on deeper progression systems, with new gear levels, armor sets, power progression, and challenge customization options. These elements allow a core group of players to say to themselves: “I’m really going to invest in this game and get great rewards.” On paper, it’s a great idea, but it didn’t work. We’ve learned valuable lessons about what our players want, and there are two types of online games: those that listen to players and adapt to their needs, and those that don’t. We don’t want a dead game, we want to continue developing Destiny. So we listen to our players, and what they tell us is that they don’t want to just chase simple increasing numbers, but get real rewards.. »
This is also why the studio is happy to move to smaller, more regular expansions, in order to test more things based on different feedback, while venturing into unique creative biases. It now remains to be seen whether Renegades will be able to turn the tide around Destiny 2from December 2.