Bungie Wants Destiny to Be “Avatar, Not Waterworld”

Everyone and their significant other is talking Bungie’s Destiny which has started to go live the world over. GamesTM got a chance to speak to head of production Jonty Barnes and finally got an answer to a question we’ve been wondering for quite some time: given all the risks, what happens if Destiny fails?

Barnes responded by saying that, “Entertainment is a risk – notoriously. There was a saying we’ve said before to keep us from taking our progress for granted: we want to be Avatar, not Waterworld. I think there’s this part which is very early on in the project where you don’t know what the game is that you’re making, but we very much trust in the talent at Bungie.

“We’ve been very fortunate because of our culture that we’ve been able to retain such talented people – the majority of the original Halo team is there, Jason Jones who was the creative director of Halo and previous hits at Bungie is the creative director of Destiny.

“As a result of that you look around the room and they’re the reason that you’re still in the office, because you trust in these people and their expertise, and you don’t have to worry about their area. You just worry about your areas. Ultimately that’s what Activision did as well – it’s an idea and they loved the vision, but they backed the talent at Bungie.

“I continue to talk about ‘the talent at Bungie’. That’s where you go on this journey together. Entertainment is a risk – I’m fortunate enough to have worked on a lot of new IP. A lot of people at Bungie had never worked on a new IP and it was very daunting for them, there was a lot of insecurity at times. But we trusted in each other. I think when you have that talent, you’re going to be successful.”

Barnes also outlined the importance of the public beta, saying that, “The beta was a huge tonic for the team because the world of players agree with the players at Bungie – the things we love about the game, they love about the game. Things we thought were important, they thought were important. It certainly gives us confidence going into September and purchasing as well through word of mouth.

“This is why we do games – we take risks. Entertainment is risky, and we make sure that we’re taking risks. If you don’t, you’re going to just be copying everything else and you’re not going to be doing something exciting.”

Destiny is live for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3 and PS4. Stay tuned for more information.