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February 12, 2022
In the early days of 2022, Microsoft made waves by purchasing Activision Blizzard. The company is responsible for some of the biggest online franchises of all time (starcraft and overwatch), the biggest MMO ever (world of warcraft), and the highest-grossing annual series (call of duty), could possibly become an Xbox exclusive developer. And for a price tag of over $70 billion, it was the largest acquisition in gaming history.
With such a massive acquisition taking place, Sony was quick to respond with one of their own. Sony will be purchasing the original Halo developer for a relatively tame price tag of just $3.6 billion. It is one of three major consolidations to happen in the games industry in a single month.
According to the fine print, the original Halo development studio will become an independent subsidiary of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE). The current management team at Bungie will be part of the board of directors, which will include the current CEO.
SIE
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July 03, 2017
One of the biggest mechanics in Destiny isn't coming back to Destiny 2 and it has split the community in two.
In the original Destiny, each weapon drop can have stats randomly assigned to it. With this approach, it means players were encouraged to grind missions over and over again for a chance to get a more powerful version of their favorite weapons.
However, in Destiny 2, this randomly assigned stats mechanic will be removed.
This random stat mechanic has been used in similar games for years - it's a system that's been used in Borderlands and Diablo, and it's been something that has fueled the addictive nature of these types of loot-focused games. With the random stats gone in Destiny 2, getting good gear is still rewarding, but once you've got the best weapons in the game, you'll know that there isn't a chance to get even better gear.
This has the potential to reduce the replayability of Destiny 2, especially if there isn't enough content added to the game.
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June 27, 2017
Players of the original Destiny won't be getting much when transitioning to Destiny 2, but there are a number of freebies up for grabs to those that did spend time in the first game of the franchise.
Bungie published a new blog post to explain their plans for veteran Destiny players, starting by saying, "Even before our old friend Cayde revealed that your stuff (but, more importantly, his stuff) would soon fall prey to the Red Legion, we let you know that we were going to honor our veteran players who join us again in Destiny 2. Today, we're going to shine a little light on what you can expect if you count yourself among those ranks."
Bungie was hesitant to go into too many details - it seems that they've carefully planned out rewards for returning players, but they do not want to spoil the fun. Bungie did, however, mention that there will be a number of ways players will be able to showcase their early support for the Destiny franchise.
Firstly, Bungie announced a
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May 20, 2017
Destiny 2 is finally getting in-game clan support.
In the original Destiny, players were forced to build clans and organize team events outside of the game. It was far more difficult to get players together, but despite this, massive communities were built around Destiny anyway.
In Destiny 2, players will no longer need to go through the same struggles. Destiny 2 will introduce in-game clan support to the franchise for the first time. Anybody will be able to set up a clan and invite friends. Once a clan is created, players will get given periodic rewards based upon the entire clan's performance throughout different activities in Destiny 2.
Each clan will have their own Clan banner, which players will be able to wear with pride.
Bungie also announced a new feature that will help players without clans. In Destiny, it was very difficult to play the high-level content without a team of friends to do it with, because of the lack of matchmaking for raids. In Destiny
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September 14, 2016
Finally, we have some great news about competitive Destiny.
After what felt like a lifetime, Activision teamed up with MLG to showcase an MLG event, which was streamed live on the Twitch platform. Because competitive Destiny hadn't been around until now, the MLG event saw 12 of the best PVP players team up and fight against each other. The teams were split as follows:
Alpha Team:
Luminosity
Bodies
Viole
SirDimetrious
TripleWRECK
SayWallaHBruhBravo Team:
nKuch
Lil Sonic
iFrostBolt
KJHovey
TrueVanguard
RealKraftyyAfter the MLG event, which was shown as a best of five match, Bungie announced that private match functionality will be coming to Destiny. The new private match feature should be live this week and it will allow players to set up competitive PVP leagues, cups and more. The private PVP functionality will also allow friends to gather up together for a bit of fun outside
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March 29, 2016
Recently the Destiny team has planned to host another Twitch livestream to talk about the upcoming April update for their game. The new update planned for release at some point later in the month will feature a number of changes to the Crucible as well as some tweaks to the sandbox elements of the game.
Apparently the new update will include changes "both large and small." To top everything off, the April update will also include some weapon changes. If you've followed the development of Destiny then you'll know that weapon balance changes have become pretty commonplace.
Interestingly, Bungie wrote something that sparked a bit of curiosity in us in their even post for the upcoming Twitch livestream. Bungie wrote, "We might even find some ways to prove some new design theories in magical, delicious combat." Sounds intriguing. We're looking forward to finding exactly what Bungie means by this.
Like previous livestreams, it's likely that it will last for around an hour
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February 06, 2016
The plans for Bungie's latest child, Destiny, haven't been set in stone for a while. The Destiny community have had no idea what Bungie's plans are for the IP for a long time now and with Bungie's clear focus on monetization and revenue, it has been a little worrying.
Fortunately some new information has come in to shed light on exactly what Bungie has been planning behind the scenes. In a new public statement from Bungie, it was revealed that a new expansion similar to previous expansions for Destiny will hit later this year, whilst a full sequel to the Destiny game is planned for 2017.
Bungie's statement mentions, "Prior to the holiday break we mentioned a second, larger update slated for Spring. That content release will feature a significant Light increase, a bunch of new gear to earn and equip, and new challenges for PvE players seeking some more fun experiences and replayability. Beyond that, the team is focused on delivering a large expansion later this year, and a
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January 08, 2016
Before Destiny was released, Bungie mentioned that they plan to have a 2 year release cycle for Destiny - this would mean that new Destiny games would hit the market every two years for at least 10 years to come. As the plans at Bungie have evolved, their monetization plans have changed too. Now, over a year after the launch of the original Destiny, Bungie's plans on a sequel have been voiced to the public.
Instead of working on a new sequel to push out in 2016, Destiny will now be launching new content updates throughout the entirety of the year - this could include smaller content updates like the upcoming Valentine's content in February, to much larger expansions that could be as large as The Taken King. It seems as if Bungie aren't even entirely sure of their own plans themselves but as the year progresses, there will definitely be a lot in store for the Destiny community.
Players should expect to see a mixture of free content, DLC content and microtransaction cosmetic
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December 28, 2015
Happy New Years folks! To celebrate the new year, Bungie has picked out a bunch of gifts to hand out to all active Destiny players. On January 7, all Destiny players will receive 15 strange coins and 15 motes of light. These forms of currency can be used to purchase items from the travelling trader Xur.
To access your New Year gift, just head to the postmaster in the Tower after January 7 and you will be able to pick up the 15 strange coins and 15 motes of light.
On top of the free currency, Bungie are offering an extra reward for any players who stay active during the new year. If you log into Destiny on either January 7, January 8, January 9 or January 10 you will be rewarded with a unique exclusive emblem. It's important that you complete a playable activity if you log in to collect the emblem. This could simply be a quick Crucible match, a Raid or any other activity that ends with a loot screen.
If you participate in the New Year emblem challenge then you will be
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December 26, 2015
Destiny's Sparrow Racing League has now ended and players can no longer play this particular game mode. For those unaware, Sparrow Racing League was a unique PVP mode added to Destiny that allowed players to race each other in Sparrows. This is the first time Bungie has added a PVP game mode that has a main focus besides shooting.
Now that Sparrow Racing League has come to a close, Bungie will be replacing it with The Iron Banner for a short while before introducing another timed PVP game mode. The Iron Banner has already been in Destiny two times since the release of The Taken King and this is now the third time.
The Iron Banner features basic PVP combat just like the standard Crucible game mode but there are some standout features that make it very different. Unlike the standard Crucible mode, the Iron Banner has level advantages enabled, which means that weapons with higher attack ratings do more damage. In the Crucible, all gear is leveled out to make an equal playing