Destiny 2 launched with a critical acclaim and financial success. However, the game failed to retain its player base with the launch of its expansions. Even the recently released Destiny 2 Forsaken expansion hasn’t helped it either and continues to be a disappointment for Activision.
During the recent earnings call, Activision revealed that Destiny 2 Forsaken failed to meet sales expectations. According to the company, it hasn’t seen “full core re-engage” Destiny 2 with the launch of Forsaken.
Activision noted that the Forsaken expansion “not performing as well as we’d like”. This was quite evident from the fact that the base game is currently free on PC for a limited time. All of this in an effort to boost the player base and hoping that new players would buy the expansions.
We have not yet seen the full core re-engage in Destiny, which has kind of led to the underperformance against our expectations to date. Some players we think are still in wait-and-see mode,” Johnson said. “So when you’re in, you’re deeply engaged. If you’re not, we’re hoping now’s the time to bring players back in and win them back.
The Forsaken expansion brought a lot of improvements and changes to the game. Bungie and Activision hoped that these improvements would bring its player base back along with new players. It is clear that Destiny 2 Forsaken failed to do that.
Not only that, the Forsaken expansion required players to purchase the first two Destiny 2 expansions to play it. However, following its launch, Bungie made both of the expansion free for those who purchased Destiny 2 Forsaken.
This didn’t sit well with those players who paid a premium for these expansions. But, it is clear now that all of it was an effort to boost the game’s player base.
Another reason for the failed sales expectations could be Activision’s lofty expectations. Maybe the company is expecting more of the game then it can actually deliver.
The first game also saw a similar situation. However, it managed to re-engage its player base with subsequent expansions. Activision might have hoped to achieve the same and failed.
Speaking of Destiny 2, leaks and rumors suggest that Bungie is bringing Black Armory expansion later this year. The expansion brings a new gear rarity, Black Rarity Gear.
Furthermore, the expansion will also bring three fan-favorite exotics from Destiny. These exotic weapons are The Last Word, Thunderlord, and Icebreaker.
To make things more interesting, there are already rumors of Destiny 3 making rounds on the internet. It will be interesting to see how Destiny 3 performs following the failure of Destiny 2.
According to the report, Bungie is already working on Destiny 3 and will have a heavy focus on RPG elements.
Furthermore, players will get to explore Europa in the sequel and will have PvPvE patrol zones. These patrol zones sound like Dark Zones from The Division but, we will wait and see how it turns out to be.
Destiny 2 is a first-person multiplayer shooter developed by Bungie. The game is available for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
