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Destiny 2: Forsaken (PS4) - Gambit could be the next big thing

Destiny 2: Forsaken – not quite as successful as Activision hoped

It may have pleased critics but Activision worry that even after Forsaken they still have to fully re-engage the core Destiny fanbase.

Its always been a roller coaster ride for Destiny, as one minute its toasted as the future of video games and the next its mired in controversy and disappointment.

The games popularity has ebbed and flowed several times over the two sequels but after this years expansion Forsaken its seemed to be a on a relative high, at least in terms of critical response and general fan approval.

But following their latest financial results it seems publisher Activision arent so happy with the way things have gone.

While Forsaken is a high quality expansion with strong engagement and new modes of play, it did not achieve our commercial expectations, said Activisions Coddy Johnson during an earnings call. There is still work to do to fully re-engaged the core Destiny fanbase.

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We have not yet seen the full core reengage in Destiny, which has kind of led to the underperformance against expectations to date, he added. Some players we think are still in wait and see mode. If youre in, youre deeply engaged. If youre not, were hoping nows the time to bring players back in and win them back.

Destiny 2s not exactly in crisis though as the number of monthly active users still grew compared to both the last quarter and the last year – so its not as if player numbers are falling.

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Activisions answer to the problem is to improve the pace of innovation and cadence of in-game content, i.e. to make sure there are no more long gaps between new DLC and events. Which is something developer Bungie has been promising for a long time.

Because this is Activision though their other main priority is to get people spending more money through microtransactions, which Johnson indicated was their goal for all their games.

Although there have been concerns about the increasing prevalence of microtransactions in Call Of Duty its only in Destiny 2 that Activision has had any real controversy with in-game purchases. But well have to wait and see whether they learnt their lesson from that…

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