Destiny 2
Yesterday, one of the most important moments of the Xbox Games Showcase was not one of the many film advances that promise X-Series exclusives for years, but the reunion of two old friends.
That would be the news that Bungie would bring Destiny 2 to Xbox Game Pass. Not only the base game, which is already free, but all from their paid expansions, including Forsaken, Shadowkeep and to everyone’s surprise, Beyond Light this fall. While Beyond Light isn’t a complete sequel, it’s a great release for the series, and it is shaping up to be possibly its biggest expansion with a whole new elemental class and two new zones (well, an old one) that we know of. In short, it could very well be a sequel, considering that Destiny 3 is probably never going to exist.
This is significant and, for me, represents a watershed moment for the gaming industry. Bungie is no longer owned by Microsoft, so it is doing this as a third party. You are offering Game Pass subscribers Beyond Light on Series X and PC (later in 2021, as part of PC Game Pass) “free.” And with the cross-save between PS4, Steam, and Xbox, that further extends its reach. The addition of Game Pass also means that you can now play Destiny on certain mobile devices through that system.
This feels like the future. Not only did Microsoft offer their own games at the launch of Game Pass, but they have also made it attractive enough to attract Bungie, no doubt offering them a fair amount of cash to do so, but it should be a win for everyone. mutually
We can already see that this is starting to happen elsewhere. One thing we learned yesterday is that Halo Infinite will exist as a “platform” and will be Halo’s main game for the indefinite future with more and more time added. And all that will continue in Game Pass, obviously.
Halo Infinite
This is a combination of two different trends, the switch to subscription models in the media in general, which has completely consumed television, but is now slowly advancing in games and game franchises that last from 5 to 15 years as a unique entity, rather than something with sequel numbers and new box copies.
It’s hard to know exactly what the next franchise will be on this route, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that perhaps Call of Duty becomes a “platform” where its new releases are part of a continuous stream of content, rather than hard all restarting. years. Some games have already been doing this. Fortnite already exists as a platform and, being free and without paid expansions, you don’t have to be part of Game Pass. Other games have already started this trend a long time ago. We never got World of Warcraft 2. We’ll never see League of Legends 2.
Yes, there will continue to be $ 60 games and numbered sequels. And yet I wouldn’t be surprised to see less of that and more of what Destiny is doing. Godfall, the Avengers are new loot-based IPs that seem to follow this trend, even if they weren’t shown in Game Pass at launch. But 2-3 years from now? Maybe debuting your new title on Game Pass (or something like that) isn’t that strange to consider. This is the direction in which everything moves.
Sony and Nintendo can probably hold out here for a while. I think Game Pass is a force to be reckoned with, more so than the actual Xbox Series X, to be sure, but Sony and Nintendo continue to release top-notch hits that more or less demand purchase, which is why even with this trend becoming clearer, we see The Last of Us Part 2 and Ghost of Tsushima breaking records to this day. But the day will come when Sony needs A PlayStation game pass to compete in? That seems likely in the long run, even if they can postpone a move like that a bit longer, due to their current leadership and recent string of blows.
This is the future I don’t know far in the future before I hit a “majority subscription” gaming industry, but I don’t think it’s as far away as people realize. Microsoft is all included in the concept, trying to get there first as “Netflix” and get everyone else to catch up later. And if third parties are beginning to hesitate and get on board, that’s a significant step in that direction. More to come.
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