Destiny may only be a couple months old at this point, but Bungie is already working on the next game in the series, with Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg saying on the recent earnings call:
Players are already asking for new content. And on December 9, we plan on satisfying that demand by launching our first expansion pack, The Dark Below, with all-new maps, missions, gear, weapons and a brand-new raid. Work has also begun on future expansion packs as well as on our next full game release. We’re very pleased with the launch and continuing engagement, and we’ll update you on our progress on future calls.
News of Bungie working on the follow-up to Destiny shouldn’t be surprising, as we already know it has a 10-year plan. Also, while the details have clearly changed since and we have no idea if the deal remains the same, leaked documents in 2012 from the April 2010 contract between Bungie and Activision did suggest there would be four Destiny titles in total, each releasing two years apart.
It remains to be seen if the “future expansion packs” for Destiny will extend beyond the announced The Dark Below and House of Wolves.
As we learned in Activision Blizzard’s financial report this week, Destiny has 9.5 million users. During the call, Hirshberg confirmed that there is a relationship between the amount of users and sell-through, while also revealing that Destiny was profitable on day one:
I think by any measure, Destiny is off to a great start. As I mentioned, we were the largest new franchise launch of all time. And despite the large investment, which Dennis will talk about — or maybe because of that large investment, we were able to be profitable from day one, and we think it’s only a matter of time now before it becomes our next billion-dollar franchise.
I also mentioned some pretty incredible engagement numbers. The average player is investing over 3 hours of game play per day. And to date… we have 9.5 million registered users. Of course, there’s a relationship to sell-through. It’s not exact because some people have more than one identity. But obviously, that’s directional. So it’s a highly engaged audience that is hungry for more content, and we’ve had that.
Elsewhere, COO Thomas Tippl called Destiny’s success “unprecedented” and it’s “far exceeding expectations.”
What do you think the next Destiny should be called? Destiny 2? Destiny: Future Warfare?
[Source: Seeking Alpha]
