SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bungie and Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), debuted Destiny 2’s gameplay for the first time to a global, livestreamed audience in a hands-on event at Jet Center in Hawthorne, California. Destiny 2 is the sequel to the internationally acclaimed Destiny, a first-person action game that takes the player on an epic journey to defend humanity from annihilation. The live broadcast showcased a variety of the activities, opening on a dramatic campaign mission that sets up the premise of the game to answer how you recover when your home is destroyed and your powers are taken away. The broadcast went on to detail the game’s social and cooperative activities, including the all-new “Guided Games” feature while highlighting multiple brand-new destinations. In September, Destiny 2 will be available on PlayStation®4 systems with additional, timed exclusive* content, and Xbox One (PlayStation®Plus or Xbox Live Gold subscription, respectively, required for significant features). Additionally, Destiny 2 will be available on PC at retail and as the first third-party game to be offered digitally via Battle.net®, Blizzard Entertainment's online gaming service.
The broadcast was streamed globally in four languages and emphasized that the game will offer a fresh start to all players with no previous knowledge or background needed. Destiny 2’s story allows the player to enjoy a heroic, cinematic journey, either solo or with friends. A key announcement during the livestream was about a new feature called, “Guided Games,” that makes it easy for all players to experience the most challenging and rewarding activities the game has to offer. This new feature allows solo players to find and play with other players to enjoy Destiny 2 and earn new in-game rewards like weapons, and armor. Also available for attendees was “Countdown,” an all-new competitive multiplayer mode as well as a three-player cooperative activity on a new map called, “Inverted Spire.”
In the story of Destiny 2, the last safe city on Earth has fallen and lay in ruins, occupied by a powerful new enemy and his elite army, the Red Legion. Every player creates their own character called a “Guardian,” humanity’s chosen protectors. As a Guardian in Destiny 2, players must master new abilities and weapons to reunite the city’s forces, stand together and fight back to reclaim their home.
“Destiny established a blockbuster, new franchise and a massive global community of amazingly passionate fans. And today, we are giving people their first look at the gameplay of Destiny 2,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision. “Destiny 2 has a great story, an iconic new villain, awesome characters you want to go on an epic adventure with, and of course, tons of the amazing gameplay that Destiny is known for. We, along with our partners at Bungie, have listened carefully to our community, and have added thoughtful innovations that make the game, and all of its content, more accessible to more types of players than ever before.”
Bungie CEO, Pete Parsons, said, “This is a defining moment for our studio, and we couldn’t have done it without the continued support of our partners in Activision, Sony and now Blizzard.” He added, “We have an amazing community of players who have been with us on this journey, but with the sequel, the team are paying close attention to welcoming new and returning Guardians to the universe with something for every type of gamer, including gameplay for solo, cooperative and competitive players with new places to explore and adventures to conquer.”
“As Destiny fans, we were excited to learn that the sequel was coming to PC,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We're pleased to support Destiny 2 as the first non-Blizzard game on our platform, and we look forward to joining fellow Guardians in their fight against the Red Legion.”
Destiny 2 is currently Rating Pending (RP) by the ESRB and will be available at a suggested retail price of $59.99. The product line-up will also feature the Destiny 2 – Game + Expansion Pass Bundle at $89.99 SRP, the Destiny 2 – Digital Deluxe Edition featuring premium digital content at $99.99 SRP, the Limited Edition at $99.99 SRP, and the Collector’s Edition, featuring a fully-wearable Destiny 2 – Frontier Bag, Expansion Pass, premium digital content and a Cabal-themed Collector’s Box for $249.99 SRP.
For more game information, visit www.DestinyTheGame.com and follow the official Destiny social channels on Facebook and @DestinyTheGame on Instagram and Twitter. The community can interact directly with the developers at www.Bungie.net, Facebook, @Bungie on Twitter, and www.Twitch.tv/Bungie on Twitch.
About Bungie
Bungie is an independent, employee-owned game development studio dedicated to creating hopeful worlds that inspire passionate player communities. For more than two-and-a-half decades that purpose has led to the creation of some of the industry’s most celebrated gaming franchises, including Marathon, Myth, Halo, and Destiny. Today, Bungie is focused on developing the next highly-anticipated release in the Destiny universe, Destiny 2.
About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft®, Hearthstone®, Overwatch®, the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® franchises, and the multi-franchise Heroes of the Storm®, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment’s track record includes twenty-one #1 games† and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company’s online gaming service is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.
About Activision Publishing, Inc.
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading global producer and publisher of interactive entertainment. Activision maintains operations throughout the world and is a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), an S&P 500 company. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company's website, www.activision.com or by following @Activision.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about the expected pricing, gameplay, features and functionality of Destiny 2, are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
© 2017 Bungie, Inc. All rights reserved. Destiny, the Destiny Logo, Bungie and the Bungie Logo are among the trademarks of Bungie, Inc. Published and distributed by Activision. Activision is a registered trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc. All other trademarks or trade names are the properties of their respective owners.
*Timed exclusive content until at least Fall 2018. More details to come this summer.
†Sales and/or downloads, based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.
