Bungie’s CEO: “I think you will be pretty excited”
If an interview with Bungie’s CEO Pete Parsons in the Metro is anything to go by, Bungie is coping pretty darn well with pandemic. Whilst their March departure from their offices ended up delaying Destiny 2’s Beyond Light expansion by two months, they’ve continued to hire and work remotely.
“…there is something like almost a quarter of everybody who now works at Bungie has never set foot inside the studio,” said Parsons. “Which breaks my heart, but it is also a testament to the work that the teams have been able to do. And to continue to make progress.”
When Bungie bought their independence from Activision two years ago, the focus was always on how that affected their prize platform, live-service game, Destiny 2, but it’s clear the move has also had implications on future games.
As PC Gamer notes, Parsons has already previously said that they want “other franchises within the marketplace” by 2025, they’ve filed a trademark in the EU for a project called Matter, and they’ve listed a job for a project that’s “comedic with lighthearted and whimsical characters.”
As for details, Parsons only refers to “incubations” started “about three years ago,” but emphasises that they’re as much about nurturing new teams as they are creating games. Still, Parsons seems excited by them and M.E Chung, designer on Destiny’s social systems, is working one one of the projects.
“…we expected a decently high failure rate from the incubations and what’s happened is, we are pretty excited about the work that’s being done not just on continuing the Destiny universe, but because we’ve been able to build such a deep bench of talent, these incubations are really amazing.”
“I was actually just on the phone right before we called with one of our incubation leads around their project. I think you will be pretty excited. I wish I could say more, but I think you will be pretty excited.”
Overly gossipy game news this might read, given these are but unnamed incubations, but between the noted ambitions of Bungie for new franchises and these new details, it’s clearer than ever that Bungie has a destiny outside of Destiny.
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