The third game to come under the scope and examine the leaks and rumours is Bungie’s first venture since departing the Halo franchise, the sci-fi, space themed, first person shooter, Halo Destiny.
In this post, I will share with you some of the biggest and most popular leaks leading up to the launch of Destiny in 2014. I cannot include every single obscure leak and rumour as everyone reading this can easily create a rumour, but I do try and include all the reputable leaks, or leaks that gained substantial publicity. This range of sources of leaks for Destiny (bizarrely) range from developers, to leaks from a lawsuit, and a USB in a coffee-shop.
Let’s jump in.
Context
Months prior to the release of Halo: Reach in 2010, Bungie had signed a deal with Activision, a multi-game contract for 10 years. They left Microsoft to gain creative freedom, as they had ambitions that stretched further than being limited to Halo. This also allowed them to go multiplatform, as previously they had been restricted to the Xbox family.
February 17, 2011 – ‘Destiny’ name outed, “World of Warcraft in space”
Kotaku provides gamers with our first real tease of what Bungie’s first game since Halo is, and in a shock to everyone, it’s another first-person shooter. Our first leak comes from Kotaku’s source, who is a recently terminated contractor (allegedly of a group of roughly 30), and as a result, wants to spoil Bungie’s fun. The shooter is based in a science fiction world, and is a massive multiplayer online game, with the current name Destiny (currently being referred to inhouse as Tiger). What is interesting, is that Bungie responded to the leak saying that any claims of Bungie releasing a large group of contractors is false, and that these unsubstantiated rumours aren’t in line with Bungie’s corporate culture.
The claims of the game being an MMO shooter goes in lines with a hint that Bungie creative director Joseph Staten alluded to the year before at a Game’s Developers Conference, in which he pondered to the crowd “Wouldn’t it be great if we could make a world that was always there for you”.
Outcome? As we know, Destiny is the name, sci-fi shooter is the game. There is a constant online debate as to whether this game is actually an MMO game, or if it was the first of this pseudo-genre, the “looter shooter”. Regardless, I think it is safe to say that our first leak for Bungie’s new original IP, is a genuine, accurate leak.
May 19, 2011 – Destiny logo revealed through trademark
Our theory that the next game by Bungie is called ‘Destiny’ is given in more credibility based on some research done by Halo and Bungie fansite, HBO, to which they discovered a trademark for the name and logo. The site managed to follow a paper trail from Bungie employees using a dummy corporation founded by Bungie president Harold Ryan, and composer Marty O’Donnell, to which they discovered the trademark for Destiny.
What is interesting, is that this actually matches a logo that on a shirt worn by a Bungie employee at a PAX event a week prior, discovered by NeoGAF member, Willeth.
A second trademark is also registered with the tagline “Be Brave”. While this did not end up being a tagline for the game, it is in the game as an earnable item, and is a part of the sequel’s (Destiny 2) OST.
Outcome? Another confirmed leak, not much more to say.
22 May, 2012 – Lawsuit confirms Destiny for 2013, first of 4 games, Xbox 360 exclusive
May continues to be a wet time of the year at Bungie as another leak comes to light, however at least this time there was not much they could do about this one, as it came from the infamous lawsuit between Jason West and Vince Zampella against Activision. So what does the 27-page contract entail?
For those that do not want to read, LA Times sum it up pretty effectively in the above article;
The 27-page agreement calls for Bungie to develop four “sci-fantasy, action shooter games,” code-named “Destiny,” released every other year, beginning in the fall of 2013. Bungie also agreed to put out four downloadable expansion packs code-named “Comet,” every other year beginning in the fall of 2014. Activision has never disclosed release plans for Bungie’s titles.
The first Destiny game will initially only be available on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 consoles, as well as its potential successor, which the contract refers to as the “Xbox 720.” Later games would be made for Xbox consoles as well as Sony Corp.'s expected successor to the PlayStation 3, and on personal computers.
There is some more boring financial talk, and talks of a Marathon sequel, but that isn’t why we are here. Also, for those who did not read the actual document, you bet your bottom dollar that the contract mentions the words “Xbox 720”.
So, even though that this was a version of a contract that Bungie had with Activision, in reality how did this turn out?
Well, going through the summary in order, instead of having four games released every other year, starting in 2013, we have only had two game releases since 2014. If this contract were to be followed strictly, right now we should all be playing “Destiny 4”. There was also an agreement to put out a downloadable expansion every other year, which so far we have had 4 major expansions – The Taken King and Rise of Iron for Destiny 1, Foresaken, and Shadowkeep (so far) for Destiny 2. It is possible that instead of having 4 games, that we instead got larger expansions, as well as the smaller expansions such as The Dark Below and House of Wolves to better make up for not having four major game releases.
Next, the first Destiny game was planned to only launch on the Xbox 360, and the “Xbox 720”. After this first game, the sequels would all be made available for the now named Playstation 4, and for PCs. What is interesting about this agreement, is that it we went from Microsoft managing to score exclusivity for a whole game, to something happening between this agreement and the game’s release which resulted in Sony somehow scoring timed exclusive downloadable content and strikes for a year, as well as the game’s marketing rights. Who knows what business decisions influenced this, certainly not I.
Outcome? While it is most definitely a leak, business decisions have obviously influenced most of these agreed terms to not come to fruition. We have not had four games in the ten-year period, we did not get Destiny in 2013, and Destiny did not launch as an Xbox 360 exclusive. So while the leak was of course, a genuine release of information, the information has since changed and is not factually correct.
November 6, 2012 – Demonware blog leaks gameplay details, “a lot like Halo”
Yet another big leak, this time detailing what the game actually is, how it plays, and what is involved. This leak comes from DemonWare, which is a subsidiary of Activision-Blizzard and specialise in online software and services related to video games. As it turns out, they had been working with Bungie on Destiny, and were invited to a Bungie Day (7th day of the 7th month) in July of 2012, to which they experienced and blogged their experiences. Since then, the blog has been removed. The blog does have lots of information that revolve around the day in general, but the stuff of interest to gamers and how it relates to Destiny is as follows. First, DemonWare were presented with presentations that went for a few hours, which detailed;
game story, factions, art, engineering, tool chain, graphics, audio, player investment mechanisms, player progression UI, and web and mobile apps
An interesting piece of information here is that we now find out that Bungie are working with Paul McCartney to produce the score for the game. There are no game details as of yet, apart from an impressive walk through where they witnessed;
lots of atmospherics, huge amounts of trees and foliage (SpeedTree), particle effects, dynamic lighting, and dynamic time of day ending in a sun set
Obviously this stuff made it into the game, with the impressive detail the art team and world builders have put into the game, something that has always been a strong suit for Destiny. After this presentation, they were then treated with some hands-on time with the game, to which the blog then goes on to say
[played] in a team of three, we did manage to experience entering a zone to find other players already taking on the bad guys, it’s cooperative so we helped out …before both groups went their separate ways. Which is a pretty cool experience, making you feel you are part of a much larger populated world
Everyone who is familiar with Destiny knows that this is a pretty fair representation of how the game plays nowadays, and is truly an impressive sight to behold that first time you come across other players. The blog writer then explains;
At the end of the day I was excited about the game, I like the feel of being in a large world with different destinations and the interactions along the way. It actually brought back a sense of exploration I recall from playing [Elite] many years ago, although there was no opportunity to shoot aliens in the face in Elite. I’m not fully sold on the appeal of being able to change the color of a weapon, but I guess it works in China, and customization and individual identity is a big theme for the game
As we know, customisation definitely plays a part in Destiny, with the hundreds of shaders for weapons, armour, and the myriad of ships and sparrows available, it is interesting to see how the game managed to stick to the themes of teamwork, exploration, and customisation and how these are all visible in the final product. Finally, the blogger finishes with;
It’s still quite like Halo, there is a lot of work still to be done.
Which of course isn’t a bad thing, probably the universal praise that the game got was how well the game actually played, the gameplay itself was fantastically well received. Of course this was to be expected from Bungie’s next IP, given the success of their work on Halo and how well those games played.
For those who want to read more, here is the confidential blog post, and full credit goes to VG24/7 for finding this post.
Outcome? Another genuine leak, this time from an Activision subsidiary. Most of what is explored in this blog post still holds true in Destiny, and Destiny 2.
To summarise the story so far, before the game has been officially announced by Bungie, we have the name, the logo, how it plays, the type of game to expect, sequels, expansions, and that it supposed to be a hybrid between World of Warcraft and Halo. Colour the world curious.
November 27, 2012 – Story details and concept art sent to IGN and Kotaku
Leaked advertising materials produced by an advertising agency made their way to both IGN and Kotaku which details many story details and concept art. However, what is even more interesting is that Kotaku had previously been sent some of the concept art before publishing this article, after a reader sent them a file with art found from a USB stick left behind in a coffee shop. At the time, Kotaku didn’t post these due to doubts in their authenticity, but as it turns out, it was much of the same concept art they had been sent now.
In regard to the actual details that leaked, we learn a few different pieces of information from what is safe to say, leaked marketing material, such as the game being set on the “Last City of Earth, in a Solar System littered with the ruins of man’s Golden Age”. The material also states that the game wants to create a “universe as deep, tangible, and relatable as that of the Star Wars franchise. The game also seems to emphasise that adventure and fun is the main focus, and that it encourages a social experience in the explorable world. These photos explore the themes of the game, the story of the game, and just what it is in more detail;
Further, courtesy of IGN, here is the concept art that was provided to both websites.
After this leak had been made public, Bungie confirmed the leak on their own site saying;
Go ahead. Take a peek. It’s alright. We weren’t quite ready, but we will be soon, and we can’t wait to finally show you what we’ve really been up to.
Stick around, we haven’t even started yet.”
I cannot provide the actual link of the post since the post had been removed, but courtesy to Kotaku for sharing it in the above article. As well as being confirmed on bungie.net in a blog post, Bungie co-founder Jason Jones also confirmed the leak, saying
Destiny is designed for your inner seven year old. We want to make it feel like a mythic adventure
Not much to speculate about this leak, and no way of telling why it was sent out. However, it is everyone’s first real look at the game, and a glimpse at Bungie’s incredible vision that they want to take their new franchise. It was also arguably the first highly-reported leak for the game and drew the most attention, especially as we got closer to the 2013 release date outlined in the above contract.
Outcome? Confirmed leak, as per Bungie.
February 11, 2013 – Destiny Announced by Bungie
Bungie finally announces that the game that they have been working on, is indeed, Destiny.
February 15, 2013 – Preorder poster and game information leaks
Bungie just cannot reveal the game on themselves, as a GameStop source sent Joystiq photos of the poster that was a pre-order incentive. While I cannot link the Joystiq article, here is a GameZone article about it.
Front of the poster, and the back of the poster. Similarly on this same day, a French gaming website had leaked the preorder information, with a release date of October 6, 2013. The website, of course, is in French but courtesy to the Destiny fandom site which translates it here, and includes a short description about the game.
Outcome? Genuine leaks that contain some new game information before Bungie’s reveal.
February 17, 2013 – IGN leaks character classes, locations, and more concept art
Courtesy of NeoGAF who extract information from a since taken down video, we learn a few new pieces of information about the game.
The leak states that the game is actually going to release on the PS3 as well as the Xbox 360, and “future generation technology”, referencing to the unannounced next-gen systems. It is a first-person shooter, and is ‘always connected’, but does not feature a subscription fee. The leak outlines the three classes being the hunter, warlock, and the titan, and that the game features a social hub on a city on Earth. Further, it appears that the Earth’s moon, and Mars are visitable locations in the game, and that the game features…”space zombies”. For those who like to treat their eyes, here is an album of more concept art.
Outcome? Another reputable leak as they correctly identified the classes in the game, some of the games locations, and the first revelation that the game is coming to Playstation 3. Leak confirmed.
February 17, 2013 – Reveal Trailer
The world’s first official look at Bungie’s Destiny.
December 6, 2013 – Destiny release date announced
We finally get a release date as Bungie announces that their big budget new franchise Destiny, launches (HA! Space!) September 9, 2014.
June 7, 2014 – Ubisoft developer leaks Destiny Alpha Gameplay
Not who you would expect to leak an Activision game, but a Ubisoft employee had streamed himself playing the game on his Playstation 4, which led to some details about the game being made public. The videos are not able to be accessible anywhere online as Activision were working hard to get them all taken down. Of course, if anyone knows where to find working links of these videos, I will happily edit them in.
Outcome? Another genuine leak, and our last one before Destiny’s release in September.
So there we have it. What a ride of stories behind the leaks there, it makes you wonder what much else Bungie had to reveal themselves when it came to it. Of course these leaks don’t even touch on the mess that was the development of the actual game, but that of course is a different story, and not the story I wanted to tell with this post. Of course, as it seems to be with this game, there are a slew of leaks that actually occurred after the game’s release, hinting at hidden content for DLC, abandoned plotlines, expansion roadmaps, and more. Of course, I will be happy to explore that in a different post, assuming people want to hear more about Destiny.
Thank you for taking the time to read this mammoth post. I debated whether to split this post into two, but if you think I should have gone that route please do not hesitate to let me know. I welcome any and all feedback, and again, appreciate you taking the time to read this post. If you made it this far, I assume you are as interested in exploring this topic as much as I am, and I would love to discuss it with you in any capacity in the comments.
Cheers.
