Destiny passes 30 million registered players

I guess it was this game’s destiny to become a hit. Heh. Yeah, sorry about that one.

Activision Blizzard revealed its financial results for the first quarter of 2016today, and it also noted that the online shooter Destiny now has over 30 million registered players. That’s up from 25 million last November, which was after the launch of The Taken King, the game’s first expansion. Activision noted that another expansion will hit Destiny, which is out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, later this year. Destiny is the most popular shooter of its kind for consoles, one that focuses just as much (if not more) on cooperative play as it does on competitive shooting. Activision, the largest console publisher in the worldwide $99 billion gaming market, has invested a lot of money in it.

At first, it wasn’t a certainty that Destiny would become a sustained hit. Although initial sales were great when it launched in September 2014, players began to complain about a dry story and a lack of content.  Last year’s The Taken King expansion addressed many of their criticisms by adding more story-based missions and other activities. A free update this April also added new gear and challenges for players.

Bungie, the same studio that created the hugely successful Halo series, is responsible for Destiny. That developer certainly knows how to make hit shooters.