Yesterday, Bungie announced some big plans over the next few years, including new offices, new games, and a new leadership team seemingly in charge of branching out the the Destiny 2 universe into other media.
“[O]ne of the primary drivers of Bungie’s expansion is to increase the commitment to the long-term development of Destiny 2, tell new stories in the Destiny Universe, and create entirely new worlds in to-be-announced IPs,” the studio wrote over on its website.
In material terms the expansion includes a big new HQ office that sounds effectively like a mini-college campus, an international office in Amsterdam focused on publishing and marketing, and new people brought on board at the executive and board of directors level, including the appointment of former Viacom CBS president of consumer products, Pamela Kaufman. In aspirational terms, Bungie wants to expand the “Destiny Universe into additional media,” and release a brand new game before 2025. Bungie had previously announced it was working on a new non-Destiny game as part of a $100 million publishing deal with Chinese gaming company NetEase.
Previously synonymous with Halo, Bungie has spent the greater part of the last decade becoming the Destiny company. It seems the independent studio is looking to double-down on that trend while also still developing new projects. Last year, Destiny 2 director Luke Smith announced a multi-year plan to continue the game’s annual expansions rather than working on a Destiny 3, a move that came after the studio finally cut ties with publisher Activision.
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All of this seems very much in keeping with the decade-long vision originally laid out for the first Destiny, which at the time then-Bungie COO (and now CEO) Pete Parsons said was part of trying to turn the IP into gaming’s version of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Destiny’s always been a very cinematic game, with voice talents that have ranged from Peter Dinklage and Gina Torres to Nathan Fillion and Lance Reddick. It seems like the perfect time for the world it’s established to be brought into TV or film, especially as Hollywood races to adapt every video game to fill its bottomless appetite for new content.
