Destiny 2: Shadowkeep will be the first major Destiny expansion since Bungie's split with Activision, so this October will be an important time for the studio. In an interview with IGN, Bungie CEO Pete Parsons said Shadowkeep is just the start of the studio's ambitious plans as an independent studio and as a "greater entertainment company."
By 2025, Parsons says Bungie wants to establish itself as "one of the world's best entertainment companies." Destiny, the studio's tentpole franchise, will naturally be a big part of that growth. Moreover, Parson's comments echo the Destiny 2 Year 3 ViDoc, in which countless designers outlined a united and evolving Destiny purposefully built as an action-MMO.
"We feel really confident about our ability to transform the Destiny business," Parsons says, "and I think people are seeing that in the [Year 3 ViDoc], and in our ability to bring it to the marketplace globally. And we still have tons of work to do on that front."
However, Bungie isn't explicitly anchored to Destiny. Parsons said that "by 2025 we have a pretty specific path to make sure we transform Destiny and that we have other franchises within the marketplace."
"We need to build our publishing group, but part of our vision is also to become a multi-franchise entertainment company," he said.
What "other franchises" Bungie has in the pipes is anyone's guess. Parsons says that "we're going back to even some of Bungie's original roots, both developer and publisher." That's an extensive library of franchises which could, in theory, receive a modern sequel or successor, from Myth to Oni. Or they could inspire all-new games - who knows.
In IGN's video interview, Parsons also briefly touched on next-gen possibilities. "We're opening up more platforms," he says, "whether it's with Steam or Stadia, or as well as we continue on with our great partners at PlayStation and Xbox." This lines up with what Bungie general manager Mark Noseworthy said of PS5 and Xbox Project Scarlett at E3 2019 - namely, that Bungie is ready and eager to move into the next console generation. How Destiny 2, potentially Destiny 3, and Bungie's other franchises fit into that console generation remains to be seen.
The Destiny 2: Shadowkeep launch trailer gives us another slice of the new raid and dungeon.
