[00:00] Pop the champagne, get the nipple clamps out, we're going to the top shelf here. This is a big celebration that we're having. Your voices have been heard. The pushback worked.
[00:14] Don't let anyone ever tell you your voice doesn't matter. Unless, of course, it sounds like this. And in that case, you're tracking, I hate you, you're already cooked. Guardians, Bungie just made a huge announcement here about the future of Destiny.
[00:29] That's right, the future of Destiny. Something that seemed like they were just washing their hands of it, abandoning it, burying it six feet down, sailing off into the sunset. Well, the big uproar and the big pushback and the sorry state that Bungie is in
[00:43] post-marathon and post-Destiny 2 catastrophe, they have made a new video here talking about the path that they're going to walk, recognizing the lack of trust the community has in them as a developer,
[00:56] leading to the position that they're in right now, and that they want their actions to speak to the direction that they want to take it, back to its roots. And one of the things that they're doing,
[01:08] really the major thing that they're doing, is they are saying that they're going to be unvaulting Destiny content. I didn't think that shit was possible. I didn't even think Jesus Christ had the ability to do something like that there.
[01:22] Because some of you might recall, Bungie actually faced a lawsuit some time ago and in that lawsuit, they couldn't even access the Red War campaign. That was the initial campaign the game launched with,
[01:34] which has been extinct for a long time now, and they were actually facing a lawsuit, and in that lawsuit, they couldn't even defend themselves with their own product. They actually had to cite YouTuber videos that captured the footage,
[01:47] and, like, YouTuber lore breakdowns, because Bungie themselves couldn't play it and put it forth. so it seemed like it was just kaput that there was no chance that any of this vaulted content
[02:00] could ever see the light of day again but with this new video from bungee here they're they're saying that they are going to be doing it they are going to make it happen and of course it's not as easy as flipping a switch which is something they talk about but they are actually going to
[02:15] make strides to unvault this content because they recognize how important it is that's fucking incredible. My name is Toria Torkin, and I'm the studio head of Bungie here in Bellevue, Washington.
[02:27] And I'm Josh June, head of product of Bungie and GM of Marathon. We're both really grateful to be here talking with you today. For more than 30 years, Bungie has built these amazing worlds, and communities have formed around them. Over the last few years, we lost sight of that.
[02:41] The consequences have been real. We lost trust, we lost incredible colleagues, and our ambitions as a studio stalled. Yeah, that's the brass tacks of it. There has been a complete deterioration of trust in the Bungie brand.
[02:55] It is no longer synonymous with quality, and now people look at it almost like a joke and like an example of mismanagement and just a pitiful decline in the reputation of Bungie, which was once a juggernaut So it been extremely sad to see but it their own doing They were making bad decision after bad decision wiping their ass with community goodwill time and time again
[03:20] And there's only so many times you can get Rikishi stink-faced before you've just had enough and said, you know what, I no longer have this appetite. My belly is full, thank you very much. No more ass for me.
[03:32] So people have been abandoning ship, and people don't have the same adoration for Bungie as they used to. And it doesn't seem like they're deaf to that. It seems like they are hearing it.
[03:45] It seems like, especially in regards to Destiny, this huge pushback they've received after what's happened there, it has reached them. We chase vision without enough focus on what players loved.
[03:58] And that's on us. We own that. We haven't just heard your feedback. We understand the anger, the disappointment with us. Just seeing how broken trust touched you all, our team, that led to our destiny home being abandoned
[04:12] and serving priorities that haven't served you all. It's just a road full of a lot of failed promises. We're not asking for your trust. We know we have to earn it. And to do that, we need our gains to deliver in ways that exceed your expectations
[04:25] of what you've come to love about the gains that we make. and that starts with destiny Bungie wouldn't be what it is today without it it's the foundation upon which everything else rests
[04:38] and we are absolutely not done with destiny those are big words that is nice lip service to hear use it to my ears but how are you going to do that?
[04:50] like unvaulting the content I imagine is going to be a Herculean task for them because of I guess just however they vaulted it making it inaccessible now and that's like fucking accessing the fountain of youth. So my guess is that they're going to have to rebuild it in some way, shape, or form.
[05:05] But how are you going to continue Destiny past the unvaulting? There were big layoffs. You laid off tons of Destiny employees.
[05:18] Are you going to rehire them? I'm asking because I genuinely don't know. They are making this big emphasis on Destiny here, and that they're not done with it. There's more stories they want to tell. They want to do it right. They want to unbolt this content.
[05:31] But you shrunk the team. Are you going to bring more people in for it now? How are you going to do that is my question. We have more stories to tell, but we have to do it right and give our teams the time they need to do justice to this amazing universe.
[05:46] We want to return Destiny to its original promise, to return to awe-inspiring mystery, the sense of discovery, and the promise of a community of guardians rallying together, raging against impossible odds.
[05:59] But that has to start with restoring what's rightfully yours. It's going to take some time. I wish we could just flip a freaking switch. But we're going to commit to involving the Destiny 2 campaign, the destinations, the raids,
[06:11] that never should have been ripped away to begin with. Oh, good heavens, yep. Blue load. Hearing them finally say that is euphoric It never should have been vaulted in the first place It shouldn It a fucking wild concept to begin with Something that I have always made fun of The fact that the campaign
[06:34] that it launched with no longer even fucking exists is mind-boggling. And there hasn't, like, coped over the years, like, defending it, like, oh, then it'd be too big of a file size, stuff like that. But you're hearing it here first. Like, it shouldn't have been taken away from you in the
[06:48] first place. Especially with the content you fucking paid for when it came out. It is absurd. So it's nice that they're recognizing it and finally, openly admitting that that was a mistake. That was a misstep that they never should have
[07:00] even done to begin with. And it is one of many they've made, but one that they're looking to rectify. So I appreciate that. And I recognize that it is not an easy thing to do to unvault it. They've made that
[07:12] abundantly clear here. If it was easy, I'm sure they would have dusted it off for the lawsuit. I imagine they wouldn't have kept that super close to the chest, you know, fucking lock and key like it's the Tesseract or something.
[07:24] They probably would have been unvaulting it to fight the legal battle there. So the fact they didn't, no doubt means it's tough. So it's nice that they're going to go through all of what's required
[07:36] to bring that back to players. That is fantastic, and I'm sure every Guardian on the planet is pumping their fists there. I am still very curious what the rest of the future looks like
[07:49] because there is only so much content they can unvault. It's a large amount of content and it's going to be great to be able to sink my teeth back into it, but then what? We already know I'll put no loosey-goosey
[08:01] up here because what the public has information on is that there isn't Destiny 3 plans in motion like production or anything there so after everything's unvaulted here then what? The way they're talking about it, about like more stories to tell and everything,
[08:16] leads me to believe that they're going to be bringing more Destiny. But is it with the same smaller team they have right now that is obviously going to be focused on unvaulting, or are they going to once again start firing on all cylinders,
[08:31] maybe rehiring or hiring new talent to start bringing more Destiny? I guess I'm just more so excited to see how much more Destiny we're getting. Are they going hog wild back into Destiny?
[08:44] I would hope so. They're an essential part of our journey together and definitely a place where we build memories with y'all. That first step, that restoration, will hopefully lay the foundation for how we reforge
[08:56] into new Destiny stories and games that you all deserve and that we want to create. Marathon is an important part to shaping where Bungie goes next. Yeah, I skipped the marathon section. That's just a snoozer to me.
[09:08] I am not an extraction shooter fan, so Marathon just by the very nature of that game is just not my cup of tea. I played it. I gave it a chance, a fair shake. It's not like terrible. It's just not for me.
[09:21] I don't like the genre, so I'm not super interested in like the direction of Marathon, but it seems like Bungie focused very heavily like laser focused on Marathon being their next cash cow to milk the titties of and that clearly hasn been paying out well they have been hemorrhaging players and even with their free weekends and changes to try and desperately get people in the door they not sticking So they still
[09:45] hover at like 2K on any given day, which is not healthy enough for a game that has this amount of resources put into them from a studio like fucking Bungie. So they are obviously going to
[09:57] be making changes there and trying to figure out how to get that going in a better, healthier direction, which I imagine will be a lot of, like, interacting with the community itself for what they want.
[10:09] But I am not in the marathon community. I'm sorry to say. All power to them to try and fix this. Like, No Man's Sky came out, everyone hated it, and now look at No Man's Sky. They kept chipping away, and they delivered the game that people have been begging for
[10:21] for years. They've delivered a masterpiece now through so many different iterations. So it's definitely possible. I don't think it's, like, curtains for marathon. if they really do put in like the sweat and the elbow grease, surely they can make an extraction shooter that the community really likes. It's just no matter how
[10:36] good the extraction shooter is, it's not for me. So I did skip that section. Towards the end they once again talk about like just how bad things have gotten with where Bungie is, but that they know they can't just say the right
[10:51] things, they need to do the right things. They need to earn the community's trust back through action, and they are really going to do everything they can to do that. So, I appreciate that. This is a pretty open look.
[11:03] Obviously, this is a prepared statement here that they're going through, but the fact that they're even willing to have a conversation like this means that they're seeing what is being said. They're seeing the pushback. It is having a real effect on the company as a whole.
[11:18] As you said, the consequences of it are very real, and they are. They are not in a good spot. and that's because they dug their hole there now that doesn't mean they have to stay there forever and this is a great step towards getting themselves out of the hole
[11:31] but I think one of the major takeaways here is even in the midst of all of like the terrible shit going on in the gaming industry with these decisions from corporations that are constantly just flying in the face
[11:43] just fucking poking you in the eyes like Captain Insano your voice still does carry weight when there is something that you are passionately against and feel strongly about, a coordinated effort to make it known how unacceptable it is
[11:58] can very much work and have a real effect on these giant corporations. Bungie is huge. Make no mistake about it. They are massive. And the fact that community pushback, community feedback,
[12:10] was enough to prompt real significant change here is huge. And it just goes to show you that there is still power in you, the player. so I think across the board
[12:23] this is great I'm very excited to see them hopefully follow through on these promises I cannot wait to play the unvaulted Destiny content whenever that's ready
[12:35] and yeah this came out of nowhere I was very surprised to see this Destiny video here with them opening up about the state of their company and what they're going to do to change where they're at so anyway just wanted to
[12:48] share the good news that's really about it yeah