Destiny’s Story Was Substantially Changed Just A Year Before It Launched

No matter whether or not you personally enjoy Destiny, it is impossible to deny that there is a disconnect between what was promised to us before the game launched, and what we actually got. Pre-launch, we had been promised a vast game, with the entire solar system available to explore, and a sweeping, vast epic story. What we got was a corridor shooter, with a missing story, and lots of expositional lore awkwardly and haphazardly bolted on to the game.

All of this happened because Destiny’s development saw a significant upheaval- court documents in relation to the Marty O’Donnell (the composer and co-founder of Bungie who is behind the iconic Halo and Destiny scores, and who was fired unceremoniously last year) lawsuit reveal that the entire story of Destiny was rewritten in September 2013, which is when the game was originally supposed to launch, leading to a one year delay, and the departure of some high ranking personnel from the studio. The game, which was stuck in a sort of development limbo, was salvaged the best it could be by the remaining team, resulting in the schizophrenic product that we got.

The documents make for a fascinating read, so I do recommend that you take a look at them when you get the chance- they answer a lot of questions about why Destiny turned out the way it did (Hint: Activision interfered with the creative process).