About this time last year,Destinydeveloper Bungie severed its ties with its publishing partner Activision to take on the full self-publishing rights of theDestinyfranchise. The launch of the Shadowkeep expansion in October 2019 and the game’s ongoing Year 3 is Bungie’s first foray as a fully independent developer and publisher ofDestiny 2. But theDestinyfranchise is not the only IP the developer has going. According to comments made by Bungie CEO Pete Parsons in September 2019, Bungie is interested in becoming a multi-franchise studio withplans to launch at least one other franchisein addition toDestinyby the year 2025.
While Bungie is publicly completely dark on whatever this new project is, there are some hints from various sources that can be gathered together, and by doing so, may start to form a picture of the kind of new IP Bungie could be developing. With a 2025 target date, it could still be years before anything is seen of this mystery game being developed by Bungie, but it is always exciting to think about a new IP coming from Bungie, which has often been at the forefront of the industry with its games.
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Funded by NetEase
In addition to Pete Parson’s comments about Bungie developing another franchise in addition toDestiny, this is almost surely related to the news that Bungie announced in June 2018 that Chinese internet technology companyNetEase became an official partner with Bungieto help fund the development of a new IP. With that announcement, Bungie said it has a long-term goal “to become an entertainment company that sustains many worlds simultaneously” and that the $100 million funding from NetEase will support multiple teams within Bungie to continue work on theDestinyfranchise as well as new IP.
Matter?
The title of this new IP could beMatter, which isBungie filed a trademarkfor in the European Union in September 2018. Outside of the name and this logo, there is very little to go on based on the art alone. But it does have a much different tone than the title art that Bungie has released for theDestinyfranchise.
Competitive Multiplayer Game?
Taking a look atBungie’s career pageon its website shows that the developer is clearly staffing up for this new IP, with a new crop of job postings that clearly state these positions are part of developing “new projects” at Bungie. On almost nearly every one of these job postings, there is a “Nice to have skill” that says something like “experience and love for competitive games.”
For longtime fans of Bungie, especially of its originalHalogames, this could be exciting news.Halowas a fantastic competitive game that let players put their skill to the test against one another in a balanced environment. Bungie built a pedigree during its years developingHaloin supporting this kind of competitive environment with skill rankings and bragging rights for the most skilled players of its games.
On the flip side,DestinyandDestiny 2have beensomewhat of a nightmare when it comes to achieving true balancein PvP, with the game naturally having a push and pull between its weapons and armor that move freely between PvE and PvP with much of this gear creating an environment that is literally impossible to truly balance where the only thing that triumphs is player skill. So, for players who miss a balanced, competitive experience designed by Bungie, this game could be much anticipated.
Bungie’s Fortnite?
Along those same lines, it is easy to see Bungie developing a competitive PvP game along the same lines as Epic did withFortniteor Respawn did withApex Legends. These were studios with other projects and IP going on within its walls before adding a multiplayer IP that, especially in the case ofFortnite, has become a monumental hit bringing inhundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. This industry trend is no doubt attractive to a developer like Bungie.
Potential for Innovation
The potential of a new Bungie IP is always exciting because Bungie has always been a developer that innovates and makes an impact in the industry when it comes to debuting a new IP. ItsMarathonseries on Mac computers was the answer toDoomon PC in the 1990s and introduced mechanics like rocket jumping and free looking side-to-side and up-and-down with the mouse as well as using vertical space.Mythstripped down the RTS genre to its most engaging action elements.Halohelped define first-person shooters on consoles. AndDestiny(despite its rocky start) has beenone of the most successfulongoing live service/MMO first-person shooters. In an industry now full of battle royales, hero shooters, and more genres, it is exciting to think about how Bungie could add to the landscape with a new competitive game.
Who is working on this new IP?
While it is unknown who exactly is working on Bungie’s new IP, it is almost impossible to imagine that the co-founder of the company Jason Jones would not be involved. Jones has been the creative leader of Bungie since the beginning, and despite staying out of the public eye andrarely ever giving interviews, he has been at the forefront of designing Bungie’s games from its foundation. He is very much a part of Bungie’s secret sauce, so it would be a surprise for him to not be involved.
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It also appears that 20-year Bungie employee Christoper Barrett is working on this new IP as well. Barrett served as the original art director ofDestinyand was on the small team that first began developing the franchise. Since then, he has risen into the higher leadership at Bungie and is currently a game director. On Twitter, he has given teases and hints that he is working on something secret at Bungie. Chances are good he has once again been made part of the foundational team working on this new IP.
What does this mean for Destiny?
Bungie has said many times that the development of this new IP will not affectDestiny, soDestiny 2andDestiny 3will apparently not be negatively impacted by Bungie working on a new franchise. Bungie says it hasa multi-year plan forDestiny 2, and it is all but certain thatDestiny 3is a guaranteed eventuality.
When will Bungie new IP release?
According to Pete Parsons, this new IP will be out by 2025 but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be out prior to that. But it is probably safe to say it will be at least a few years before Bungie is able to get an entirely new game in a separate franchise out the door.
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