Guess what? We’re getting a sequel to Destiny! Which everyone has known for months, because it’s the worst kept secret and there have been all sorts of leaks. The latest suggests that Destiny 2 will actually be on our consoles on September 8, 2017. There’s a problem with all this, though. If accurate, which it seems to be given the number of sources, it means a new, AAA release is coming in six months. A release that, at this point in time, we still know absolutely nothing about. There’ve been no announcements, no screenshots, and no footage released. A $60 game is coming our way, and Bungie and Activision have been completely silent about it.
This radio silence on Destiny 2 is indicative of a larger, more concerning trend. Companies are getting tighter lipped about their games. We aren’t getting the same levels of information as we had in the past. Fallout 4 had a truncated promotional cycle, where information only trickled out slightly ahead of launch. Mass Effect: Andromeda was the same. We’re seeing it happen with Red Dead Redemption 2 and Destiny 2 now. It isn’t a good thing.
Think about how both Fallout 4 and Mass Effect: Andromeda turned out. The former clearly isn’t the best Fallout game. It pales in comparison to both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas . Had Bethesda been more forthcoming about it, offering reliable information about a year ahead of launch, eagle-eyed fans would have spotted the differences and noticed it wasn’t on the same level as Bethesda games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim . Mass Effect: Andromeda’ s PR blitz only started in earnest when 2017 began. Look at the animation issues, poor writing, and game glitches we’ve seen in the past few days. The two most recent cases of keeping things quiet showed us games that simply weren’t up to the level of quality we expect from the respective series.
On the other side of the aisle, we have games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild . Both Sony and Nintendo did their best to generate sufficient hype for these games in a way that still left plenty of surprised for people to discover on their own after launch. We were informed about the characters. We saw footage and screenshots that were indicative of the final product. There was enough there to show the level of quality and give a great indicator of what we could expect from the finished game. It got us excited about the games and confident that they’d meet, if not exceed, our expectations.
And now, we have Destiny 2 possibly heading down the same path as Fallout 4 and Mass Effect: Andromeda . This is a game that is supposed to be out this year. If the leaks are accurate, it is only six months away. Six months, yet we know nothing about it aside from the fact it exists. No official announcement has been made. No screenshots or footage shared. No information on platforms and systems. This is all just wrong. You shouldn’t withhold information from potential customers until the last possible second.
Activision and Bungie need to step up and start sharing Destiny 2 information now. As is, it already seems like they’re jumping on the last minute media dump truck. That isn’t a good place to put yourself. Especially when the last two games to employ those tactics proved they weren’t as good as their predecessors. Companies need to know this isn’t the right way to sell games. If we’re going to spend $60 on something, we deserve a proper informational window so we can make informed decisions.