For at least 4 years now, Bungie has used the same bullshit marketing strategy to hype up every piece of content or feature they put out related to Destiny. It is a very slow, painful process of revealing things over the course of months. Dividing their big announcement into very small chunks they feed to their player base one drip at a time.

Remember years ago when they flew Jeff to Seattle to show him concept art and talk about design doc bullet points that were 100% bullshit? Well they're basically taking the same road for Destiny 2 starting today. They just "unveiled" an image to "announce" the game everyone knows is coming. They didn't put out a trailer to pitch us on how they're going to fix this damn mess. They didn't even have a teaser. Just a poster of a fat 2 and a background landscape you shouldn't give a shit about because Destiny lore is garbage.

But I guess this strategy is working because people are already lining up on reddit to fall all over themselves for this nothing of an anouncement. Fuck everything about this.

PS: I'm not going to post the image on here, search for it if you're interested. But trust me, you aren't.

EDIT:

Maybe you guys are reading too much into this post. I'm not foaming at the mouth or anything. It's just that this image doesn't show they've learned anything about how to talk about/make their game in the last 4 years. Maybe they'll have something interesting to show soon but I wouldn't count on it. Like I said, drip feed over months. Next stop: interview and concept art teaser comes out in a month with info we already know from leaks.

Anyway, my point was, skip this tedious garbage and give us the real pitch. Because I know many lapsed Destiny fans like myself just groaned looking at this image earlier today.

I enjoyed Alex's jab at their name though. It got me thinking of Destiny 2.

Also I imagine the slow drip marketing strategy works well for them. The more articles Bungie get the more people will know that their new game is coming out.

Isn't it silly to get bent out of shape over a game's PR strategy?

Maybe because marketing was busy hyping the most recent update which comes out this week? And they didn't expect to have to deal with the retail poster that just got leaked?

It's the internet, let's get mad at everything!!

Boom...

I mean just throwing up a teaser image prior to a full reveal is a pretty common marketing tactic these days. Everyone does it. Movies, games, even fucking synthesizers (seriously, the launch for the behringer Deep Mind 12 was paaaaiiiiinful. End of synth nerd talk). Rockstar did the same for Red Dead 2. Slow drip marketing to build hype is bullshit and Destiny 2 might be bullshit, but lets not pretend this is a Bungie invention.

Seems a bit premature to criticize the marketing based on 1 image, and no knowledge of the numbers involved. I can say that i woke up and saw the image immediatly. And you mentioned seeing a lot of positive buzz around Reddit, so i guess that the marketing works pretty well. Maybe you just hate Destiny and rather see it fail?

Not sure how i feel about the name though. On one hand it's descriptive and shows that this is not just a new expansion pack. On the other hand, calling a game Destiny 2 is silly. What's next? Kingdom Hearts Final Chapter: A New Beginning?

Man, why so salty?

@liquidsaiyan3: This strategy has been prevalent in every part of their communication with the player base. Have a new patch? Tease it a month in advance, talk about it for weeks and then actually post the notes. They never talk frankly and are never straight with people who play the game.

The only time they had cool and interesting things to say was in the lead up to taken king at E3 a few years back. Luke Smith was very straight forward when he talked to GB and other outlets about what people like in Destiny and how they were addressing the issues.

The rest of the time it's just a mess of over hyped nonsense for a franchise that has done nothing to deserve it. And all this hype obscures the communication between the devs and players so it feels like they aren't listening and don't know what they're doing most of the time.

If it works,and we know it did because Destiny did really well, then it's not a dumb marketing strategy at all.

You should probably step away from the computer for a while if a fucking logo reveal is causing this much vitrol.

Another case of someone getting mad over a bad game. Shame.

@boozak: I scrolled down that slow enough to think it was Destiny ?

Um, why are you so angry about this?

Maybe you guys are reading too much into my first post. I'm not foaming at the mouth or anything. It's just that this image doesn't show they've learned anything about how to talk/make their game in the last 4 years. Maybe they'll have something interesting to show soon but I wouldn't count on it. Like I said, drip feed over months. Next stop: interview and concept art teaser comes out in a month with info we already know from leaks.

Anyway, my point was, skip this tedious garbage and give us the real pitch. Because I know many lapsed Destiny fans like myself just groaned looking at this image earlier today.

Unveiling an image to a teaser trailer to an announcement trailer to an announcement event is just how marketing is nowadays.

Try and follow a movie, any major film releases a poster image, then a teaser trailer, then the real trailer, then the story trailer, and on and on. Major investments like AAA games or films require heavy marketing pushes to ensure they make that investment back.

Also Destiny 2 leaked over the weekend. This teaser image very well could have been rushed to make up for lost ground thanks to that leak.

This is how marketing and reveals are done by loads of companies for games and films. This isn't an Bungie problem like you make it out to be, this just how the marketing machine works now.

Did people get this mad when Rockstar started hype building their announcement for Red Dead Redemption 2 with just this image?

@shindig: bahaha, it's like they aren't sure if we want it or if they should even bother.

i don't see a problem with this if they get some more stuff out soon. technically too early yet tocry foul. i'm fearful they're cutting it a little close, though, and it may benefit from being moved to 2018. (which it's quite possible it still will, though the "fans" will probably cry for bungie's blood) i mean, if you think it's a sign things aren't going to well for the game then fine. calling it bullshit is a bit of an extreme platitude, though.

e: though i have console i am totally looking forward to playing it purdy like on pc. despite diablo 3 feeling like the be all end all in loot games...

This just seems like standard practice?

I mean maybe it's a bad one sure but I dunno that Bungie needs to be singled out.

@paulmako: Red dead 2's announcement was bad too but at least they had a trailer inside a week. If Bungie turns around and puts out real info about their game soon I'll be much less salty about the whole thing. I just doubt that's going to happen. It's not their MO.

Second point: you get to tease a thing when it's the follow up to a critically acclaimed title like red dead. Not a broken mess you need to redeem.

Can you blame us?

garbage marketing strategy

same bullshit marketing strategy

They just "unveiled" an image to "announce" the game

how they're going to fix this damn mess

you shouldn't give a shit about because Destiny lore is garbage.

lining up on reddit to fall all over themselves

Fuck everything about this.

PS: I'm not going to post the image on here, search for it if you're interested. But trust me, you aren't.

At least Luke Smith seems to be making fun of his company's own marketing plan. Or at least I hope he is and this isn't some more ARG nonsense.

@pyrodactyl: It doesn't sound like you spend 95% of your week thinking about Destiny so why does it even matter? Just go back to not thinking about Destiny. They'll have something at E3, and the game won't be out for months at the earliest. Let people get hype for something they like.

@paulmako: it's the exact same situation except, in my opinion anyway, Rockstar has more or less earned the right to their bullshit PR strategy since all of their games are pretty damn good. I mean people may not have liked parts of GTAV, but technically it's still a damn good game, as were pretty much all their past entries for the last 10 years - and yes I am including Max Payne 3 because shut up that game was awesome.

Most importantly I think the biggest difference is that first of all you sort of know what to expect from a GTA or a Red Dead game by this point, and second you know that Rockstar will deliver on what they promise. Destiny was a big question mark that failed to deliver in a lot of core concepts, so you'd think they'd be a little more upfront with the sequel.

Incidentally I have no problem with it being called Destiny 2. It's no worse than Uncharted 4 or Grand Theft Auto 5. Whatever.

@pyrodactyl: If it ain't broke, why fix it? As others have said, this is the playbook most other companies (not just games) market their products. Plus they have a pretty substantial fanbase.

But again, why is there so much investment in how they market the game? Especially since this is just the first wave? It seems you already have your mind made up about the current state of Destiny. Why jump at the first opportunity to poo poo the sequel before anything substantial has been shown?

@hunkulese: Hey, I'm not one of those too cool internet jerks who doesn't get excited for stuff. I like good trailers. I totally dig the hype and zeitgeist around video games and other media. It's just that Bungie doesn't do those things well at all. At this point they should be aware that most people know this game is coming and the vast majority of their player base has totally burned out on Destiny. So if they only have this dumb picture to show they should've waited. Because this is not a good announcement. It's not even a good teaser picture.

And again, this doesn't show their willingness to do things better this time around. It reads as "same old same old" in bold, impact font.

Because every time I put expectations on Destiny it manages to disappoint. No matter how low those expectations were. Bungie needs to show they have their shit together now. They need to put their best foot forward. This teaser image does the opposite.

Why get mad at an image? I can understand full-blown hatred of the straight up lying that took place during the first game's marketing, but this image was only released because other marketing had already leaked, and it forced their hand. You'll get a trailer at E3.

Again though, if Bungie goes down the same path of lies with their new game, you have my full support in being angry.

Jpeg's will be the end of us all.

*shrug* I like it. It's refreshingly honest. See all that dark smoke on the horizon? That's all the trash that's on fire. You know, because Destiny is a burning trash fire.

I hope the giant 2 is gonna be in-game in front of the Traveler.

@pyrodactyl: I guess what I fail to understand (and more of a rhetorical question, mind you), is why, after almost 3 years of Destiny, and given how you feel towards the game, you have not moved on.

Bungie already has their audience; and for the converted, the image depicts a major paradigm shift for the current status of its world, so I understand why people would be hyped.

Why fix what isn't broken? They put an image with the number "2" on it and the internet is already on fire. Some people are excited and, in classic internet fashion, some are fucking livid. Bungie and Activision don't give a shit though because everyone is already talking about Destiny 2.

And, again, all they had to do was put out a jpeg.

Publishers tend to dictate the marketing for the game, not developers. All Activision cares about is CASH MONEY, and thus Bungie's outward persona does not necessarily reflect the will of the devs. Just ignore the marketing, it's meant to sell you a game regardless of its quality. Ideally, you should wait until someone trustworthy can cover it before paying any attention.

I have moved on. I would still like Destiny 2 to be good because I very much enjoyed parts of one like no other game before or since. I have over 1600 hours in Destiny. Through this experience I can tell you most Destiny people don't care about the lore or story because it is 95% terrible. Now if they made a case for how they are going to inject character in their world and make us care about what is going on I would agree with you. Except this does none of that.

Sure, the city might be burning but who cares? I just hope people at Bungie realize this is not nearly enough. I never cared about the city or the traveler or any character in Destiny except Cayde-6 for maybe a second in the taken king. If they want to hook anyone aside from insane Destiny devotees they'll need to do much better than this.

This isn't entirely true. There is clearly only one number involved and that is 2.

I'm not mad about it, but I figured they would be more forthcoming about information this time around. If anything this may mean that they didn't learn anything from the original game's messes.

I didn't hate the first Destiny, but if they stay vague, then I'll wait a few months after release. Of coarse that doesn't really mean much, with the last one being a big success even though it was a train wreck.

They didn't put out a trailer to pitch us on how they're going to fix this damn mess.

I wonder why ;)

The title of the game over a burning city confirms the rumors : Destiny 2 is a gritty open-world game set in 1992 Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots. The change in setting is why Bungie has said we won't be bringing our characters forward.

I'm guessing you're a rookie warlock cop, torn between your loyalty to the police force and your family who are all crime warlocks.

"Let me introduce you to our content pipe ..."

If they aren't sending out boxes of meat with bullets in them or have pre-order busts's of zombie tits then IDK what they are spending their PR budget on.

You are in fact playing as the great, great, great grandfather of Dr. Halo, the first in his noble line to wear baggy jeans. In Destiny 2, we will finally uncover the truth behind the Skeleton Key, and why it is instrumental for the Battle of Arizona.

-

But yeeeaaah... I remember the Overwatch reveal. A slick CG-story trailer that I still love to bits, followed by a game-play trailer, followed by announcing that it'd be playable at the venue (Blizzcon in this instance). Now, that's how you announce a video game. This? Real weak.

I actually genuinely liked Destiny at release, warts and all, but I could not bring myself to purchase a single one of their so called expansion packs. I returned with The Fallen King, and fucking loved my time with that game after all the changes they'd made to it, so I see potential in a proper sequel. That said, if they're planning to "support" the game in the same way they did with the first one, I'll likely be checking out rather quickly.

I know everyone is tripping over themselves to make fun of this but I feel like Destiny really turned things around from launch. Even if that was followed by spinning in place I really wanna see what Destiny 2 does.

i do have to laugh at the very similar leaks coming from activision. i guess they think no one pays attention to box art/printed media anymore.

hell, they even look very similar. probably done up by the same people, maybe?

Destiny 1 and probably 2 not on PC so i don't have any poops to give.

It has you talking about it though, so it is doing it's job i guess.

I really liked Destiny at launch and the first couple expansions, but I feel like Bungie really lost their way in a very Blizzard-like "we know how you want to play our game better than you know how you want to play our game" fashion. I hope that Destiny 2 is a) still an MMO, because fuck the collective 'you,' that's one of the main reasons that I liked it, and there are already a dozen other non-MMO open world shooters, and b) on PC.

@kcin said:

lmao