Marty O’Donnell talks about Activison x Bungie (Destiny)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Wednesday, July 08, 2020, 15:47 (1603 days ago) @ Simpsons Rule
edited by Kermit, Wednesday, July 08, 2020, 15:51

Even exclusivity on PlayStation would’ve been a disaster for Bungie. Remember the butthurt even on the saner places of the internet (like here) because of the little bit of exclusivity they did have?

There's a difference between having an entire game as a console exclusive (meaning it's only on PlayStation and never on Xbox) versus having console exclusive things. There's no way to justify a situation where two people pay the same price for a video game and get different content solely because of the chosen platform. It is inherently unfair. Phrasing the duration for the exclusivity of PlayStation content to "at least" one year was deceptive. Releasing the final wave of Destiny 1 PlayStation exclusives to Xbox players after Destiny 2 released was a slap in the face, and I'm happy that the practice no longer continues.

In this case I'd take that model over Destiny being a Playstation exclulsive. I always said that Sony hyped the exclusive content to make it seem more important than it was. The only content that really mattered were the strikes, which were hit and miss, and like all strikes, pretty soon became nice comfort food, not crucial content IMHO. I'm not going to re-legislate the issue about which most of us regulars wrote thousands of words years ago. I'll just say that a popular argument was that Bungie owed a special debt to their core audience--Xbox owners. It was deja vu for those of us who remember the Great Mac Abandonment, which was, frankly, a much more significant "betrayal."

I'd bet that the only reason the game itself was never a console exclusive was because Sony didn't offer enough money to cover the projected loss in profits from the Xbox market. Or, maybe, someone fought to keep that playerbase alive.

Probably so, and this is why my butthurt over Bungie leaving Mac users behind, and my slight wince over PS Destiny exclusives quickly dissipated--I like the stuff Bungie makes, I want them to continue making it, I understand it's a tough business, and that you sometimes have to make compromises in order to survive. That certainly seems an accurate characterization of the Microsoft acquisition. Whether the exclusivity deal and Activision money was necessary is still being debated, and who knows about NetEase. All that said I give Bungie credit for consistently leaning into their ambition. Of course Cody holds the cards, and will give us the REAL story about bad leadership and whatever else, and I bet a portion of that is true, too. I'm not cynical for saying that--I'm realistic. I've seen enough of big organizations to know how rare competence is. Much of the time companies are in the process of tacking away from a storm on the horizon, and the trick is to make it appear as if the course and destination is and was always clear.

Disclaimer: haven't listened to the interview yet.