In spite of all the controversy and poor reception surrounding the game, Destiny has been a success from day one. The question has never been whether it was one, it has always been just how much of one it was. And while we still have not been given an exact number to judge it by, Activision Blizzard’s latest financial report has revealed that Bungie’s popular shared world loot shooter now has 20 million players.
This is an impressive feat, because Destiny last had 16 million players back in February- somehow, in the slowest months of the year, and with so much noise being made around the game’s exploitative DLC policies, Bungie and Activision have managed to convince another 4 million players to join the fray.
It is interesting and important to note, however, that the wording here differs from traditional statements released about MMO’s performances- we aren’t told if the players in question are ‘active’ or not. This means that someone might have feasibly bought into the hype at launch and purchased the game, made an account, and never returned to the game. Essentially, this means that 20 million players doesn’t mean that all of them are playing the game actively right now- just that they have at some point or the other.
Destiny is due to get a new expansion this month, House of Wolves. Unlike previous add on content for the game, it will not include an end game raid, but it does address the mechanics of high level play and attempt to fix them.