Is Destiny 2 a failing mess? Wall Street thinks so, and that might be the best place to look for an objective opinion on the matter. Destiny 2 might be bringing its publisher Activision down with it too, which is how this grim evaluation of the game’s popularity came to light. CNBC reports that the Wall Street firm “Cowen” recently sent a letter to its clients basically warning them not in invest in Activision because Destiny 2 is doing so badly right now, and Cowen's analysts expect that trend to continue. Call of Duty WWII - a solid COD offering, check out my video review here - DID do very well for Activision this past holiday season. But Doug Creutz, the media and entertainment analyst for the Cowen firm, advises that Destiny 2 is doing so poorly (and will continue to do so poorly) that it will nevertheless bring Activision down too. Mr. Creutz notes that Twitch viewership for the game is at a "franchise-low", only averaging 4,000 to 7,000 viewers on Friday afternoons versus 14,000 to 17,000 for the first Destiny a year ago. Creutz also lays out four key points for what Destiny 2 has been, and is continuing to do wrong: 1. "Design decisions were made that have made D2 a less engaging, and less distinctive, game than D1. In particular, key aspects of the D2 end game feel neutered compared to D1." “Neutered”...ouch. 2. "Microtransaction implementation, while not nearly as problematic as in Star Wars Battlefront 2, has still been a source of player unhappiness." Players who purchase in game content (with real money) are better off that those who actually earn items by playing the game. Yuck. 3. "Bungie's [the studio that developed the game] apparent urgency in responding to player feedback has been disappointing." They keep saying they are working on improvements, or are sorry about cheating players out of XP in order to force them to buy items...but changes are minimal at best. 4. "Until recently, Bungie did a poor job communicating its road map going forward, particularly compared to the more open stance of many other live service games." All of which gives players plenty of reasons to check out the many other (awesome) games currently available. The first Destiny had its fair share of player dissatisfaction too — much of it over many of the SAME exact issues — and it still did very well for Activision. However, there is much stiffer competition within the genre now. Players dedication to such a flawed game doesn’t last nearly as long when they could just as easily spend their time and money on The Division, Warframe, or a little game called Overwatch. And as I just mentioned, many of these problems existed in Destiny but are now even worse. Compound that with an apparent lack of interest in player feedback, and being caught red-handed in a shady experience point manipulation scheme, and you've got yourself a recipe for a failing game. “We do think Bungie still has some opportunity to fix the game's problems over the next year and recapture engagement, but we're not sure they have the ability to pull it off at this point," Mr. Creutz concluded his report - and I agree with him. What do you guys think? Any Destiny 2 players here that can comment on this? If you haven’t tried Destiny 2 and are interested in seeing what all the fuss is about, you can try still try it out for free. Here’s a link to the article I wrote about it when the free trial dropped. Don’t forget your credit card though ...you’ll probably need it.
