Posted Wed Sep 10, 2014 at 08:34 AM PDT by Brian Hoss
There's a massive community already playing.
'Destiny' is here, and the game has managed quite impressively this week to be the exception and launch smoothly. This launch has been shockingly smooth for a game that not only has a massive online component, but even has a huge percentage of sales being digital coipies requiring 20GB downloads. Today, Activision announced that their new franchise has sold more than $500 million (to retailers) as of day one, which of course includes all of the pre-orders that have been coming in for months.
Activision has also declared 'Destiny' the highest-selling day one digital console release in history, which though sidesteps it PC MMOs, is still an impressive sign of where users are getting there games. (Selling digital copies through outlets like Amazon no doubt helps this.) Even so, the game launched at over 11,000 midnight openings around the world.
From Activison CEO Bobby Kotick, "Based on extraordinary audience demand, retail and first party orders worldwide have exceeded $500 million for Destiny. This industry milestone marks another blockbuster success for our company and demonstrates our unique ability to create some of the most successful entertainment franchises in the world. The success of Destiny, along with the recent introduction of Blizzard Entertainment's Hearthstone, is further validation of our unique capabilities to create great entertainment franchises from the ground up."
From Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, "Since the beginning, we've been confident that our investment and belief in Destiny would pay off. But not many people believed we'd be able to say it did so on day one. Destiny is officially the biggest new franchise launch in our industry's history. It's also the highest-selling day one digital console release in history. We have more confidence than ever that Destiny will become one of the iconic franchises of this generation, and Activision's next billion dollar brand. Most importantly, it's just a great game which we can't stop playing. A big thanks to our incredibly talented team and partners who helped make this happen, most importantly, our partners at Bungie."
While it seems unlikely that so many will ultimately love the game in the long term, the fact that the launch has been painless for users makes for the kind of launch week that many games who are crippled by online problems can only dream of.
You can find the latest info on 'Destiny' linked from our Video Game Release Schedule.
Order the Digital Guardian Edition here for $89.99.
Source: Activision
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