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7 Reasons Destiny Became The Biggest Game Of 2015

The game has been played for more than two billion hours


'Destiny' arrived on a huge wave of hype on September 9, 2014 and was described as the most expensive game of all time, with a budget rumoured to be around $500 million.

People queued overnight to buy it and it earned a stonking half a billion dollars in 24 hours. However, what was truly remarkable was what happened next.

Pat Garratt, editor of game news site VG247 says, "'Destiny' has been gigantically successful. It has more than 20 million registered users who've played for more than 2 billion hours, an average of over 100 hours each. The most dedicated players have racked up over 3,000 hours. It's pretty hard to argue with numbers this large."

Here are a few reasons the game became so successful as cited by experts, players and the people behind 'Destiny'.

1. It won over the shoot ‘em up crowd


Bungie is the creator of 'Destiny'. They developed the smashi-hit 'Halo' (amongst others!) and transfered some of the most successful elements accross into 'Destiny'. For example, the controls are near-identical in both games.

'Destiny' is a far ‘bigger’ game than Halo, but, according to Garratt. the perfectly tuned shooting remains one of the main attractions.

2. It pioneered a new genre


A year on, and nobody's quite sure what to call 'Destiny'. Bungie likes the term ‘shared world shooter’, but players themselves use lots of different ones.

What’s clear, though, is that it’s something new. Fusing elements of online games such as 'World of Warcraft' and shooters such as 'Call of Duty'.

"'Destiny' will feel very familiar to World of Warcraft folks,’ says Redditor Samual, "'Destiny' is bringing back all of those ‘feelings’ I had with 'Everquest' and 'WOW' and has combined them into a very addictive concoction.’

3. Destiny developers listened to the players


'Destiny' players have been a particularly vocal bunch and Bungie has constantly responded to the community.

When the game’s first expansion game out, community manager Deej wrote, ‘We’ve witnessed the birth of new community of players who have defeated all the foes of our creation. Throughout their campaign, they’ve come together to find their collective voice.

‘We’ve listened. We’ve adapted.’

4. People have become obsessed with the guns


When one of the game’s shops offered the game’s most powerful rocket-launcher for sale, gamers who were on holiday asked friends to log in on their account to buy it for them.

The Verge wrote "'Destiny' would like you to think it's a game about saving various planets from impending alien doom. Its millions of players will tell you, however, that it's actually about the endless quest for Gjallarhorn, an exotic rocket launcher that far outstrips anything else in the game in terms of power."

No game weapon has ever inspired such cult-like adoration like this one.

5. If offers far more depth


Many shoot ‘em up fans hadn’t encountered anything like 'Destiny's loot system, where players work to earn new armour. The effort players have to put in is key to the game’s success says VG247’s Pat Garratt.

"'Destiny's been a success for many reasons, but, in my opinion, the main attractions are the the gear, the guns and armour," he says. "The system by which you level loot keeps you locked in for months. Destiny's a masterclass in holding the player in close."

6. The game has won over the doubters


The chief worry among early players was that there was not enough to do in 'Destiny', but since then the game has kept evolving - and therefore evolved opinion.

Over the past year, 'Destiny' has blossomed into a cult which dwarfs any new title of the past few years.

The very same game sites which welcomed 'Destiny' with lukewarm reviews have begun to cover it obsessively with many offering the new expansion, 'The Taken King', due in September 2015, a level of coverage usually reserved for brand new titles.

7. The Destiny universe isn’t standing still


Since launch, two expansions have changed the flavour of the game twice over and the third, 'The Taken King', looks set to rewrite the rules all over again.

Eric Hirshberg of publisher Activision said at E3 2015, "A game like this requires a steady stream of content to keep people engaged and that’s core to this idea.

"That's what's been successful in keeping people engaged so far. We’ve had the right cadence to keep the game fresh and provide new challenges and new rewards. So that’s definitely the strategy."