Two years after the split of Activision, Bungie is getting ready to expand the Destiny universe and – more importantly – to build new and new ones. To help with this, the company announced a series of new expansion measures this morning, including plans to open its first international office in Amsterdam and more than double the size of its headquarters in Bellevue, Washington, so that it can support ‘several project teams, including those outside the Destiny universe. ”
“The past few years have been a time of tremendous growth and opportunities for Bungie,” Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said in a statement. “We are home to some of the best and best talent in the industry, and we look forward to expanding into both our talent pool this year and expanding the resources to support it.”
To put it bluntly, Destiny 2 is not going anywhere – Bungie’s statement confirms that it will continue with the “long-term development” of the shooter, which we already knew. However, the company noted that exploring new stories in the Destiny universe, possibly a proper sequel, after releasing the Witch Queen and Lightfall expansions in 2021 and 2022, will be a top priority. To help tell the new stories, Bungie hired VP Mark Noseworthy of Destiny Universe and executive creative director Luke Smith to lead preparations for the shift.
As for these new IPs, the juicy details are still under scrutiny. That said, although Bungie has given no indication of what its projects outside Destiny may look like, it has confirmed that it plans to launch “at least one new IP” before 2025. Or, we would say “reaffirm” – the company locked up a brand for a project called Matter in 2018 and made similar claims about launch plans for a non-Destiny game in 2019.