This past week, Destiny 2 game director Joe Blackburn announced he was stepping down next month, and will be succeeded by Tyson Green, someone who has been with Bungie since 1998, a true OG veteran.
Green has been a key figure in Destiny itself over the years, though in the background, appearing a handful of times in TWABs or vidocs, but with no social media, will likely relay messages in alternative ways. And in this instance, he wrote something for the new TWAB out this week, which talked about his past and future with Destiny. Here’s an excerpt:
“My passion as a developer has always been to build the supports around which a community can grow. I came to Bungie from the fan community and aspire to build things that players can share as common interests. From Halo 3’s Forge and File Share systems to Destiny’s Buildcrafting and Fireteam Finder, I am proudest of the things that bring our community together in collaboration. I look forward to more such opportunities in The Final Shape and the years of Destiny beyond.”
It’s another reiteration that despite recent troubles, Bungie has no plans for Destiny to go anywhere or seemingly take any breaks as live service. We have details about the new episodic model after The Final Shape, but it’s unclear what form the game takes after that. The presumption is that it will likely carry on as normal, albeit with episodes instead of seasons in between expansions. And no giant changeover to Destiny 3. If such a thing happens, I would not imagine it would be until the next console generation switchover. And by then, Bungie should have at least one other game out, Marathon, if not more than one, barring some sort of cataclysm.
I find myself speculating about what specifically Green might bring to the table. Joe was a raid design lead before he became game director, while Green instead worked on core things like “reward, combat, activity, social, and commerce systems,” he says. So less literal content, and more the over-arching structure of how the game works. And of course, many reference his time working on multiplayer in Halo 2 and 3, plus Forge mode, and what that could mean for PvP in Destiny. But given the state of the game, I’m not sure that’s a sure thing. But Green’s background compared to Joe’s does make me think perhaps we could see some significant shifts in direction. Bungie has already tried to talk about reshaping the seasonal model and storytelling. While it does seem likely the 1.5 yearly rotation of expansions remains in place, who knows, maybe more dramatic shifts are ahead.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
