Afterrevealing the hardware specificationsjust last week, Microsoft has continued to keep the discussion open over its upcoming console, Project Scorpio, even if the major reveal is still being planned for E3 in June. In a recent interview with Gamasutra, Microsoft Studios chief Phil Spencer, was asked what the specific strategy behind a console like Project Scorpio was for the company.
One of the biggest trends Spencer has seen over the past few years is with the rise of the games as a service business model where games are continually updated over time to entice players to continue playing throughout the products entire lifespan. With games starting to live longer and longer, the idea was to create and build tools on a platform to better support this model, seen most recently with games likeGrand Theft Auto 5,Minecraft, and one of title Spencer is highly anticipating,Destiny 2.
After stating that he’s logged close to 600 hours or so in Bungie’s sci-fi shooter, the Xbox head admitted that he expectsDestiny 2to potentially live much longer, spanning five, six, or even seven years from now. The comparison was made to Activision-Blizzard’s other behemoth title,World of Warcraftwhich released back in 2004 and continues to add expansions to support its still massive player base. Project Scorpio aims to be a multi-generational hardware platform, to better support evergreen franchises likeDestiny.
But you know,Destiny 2’s gonna be one of these games that I expect five, six, seven years from now, people are still going to be playing that game. It’s going to be a little bit likeWoW. Which you know, whatever its been, 10 years later, 15 years later, millions of people play the game.
While Bungie has yet to confirm any sort of gameplay or mechanics forDestiny 2, the idea that it can continue to live for years after launch as Spencer believes seems very plausible. Activision has previously confirmed that the upcoming sequel has a new system which lets the developerdeliver a steady stream of contentto keep players better engaged and the game alive and growing. There have been times in the past three years thatDestinysuffered from lengthy content droughts, even prompting some of its high profile players to publicly complain.
Do you seeBungie’s upcoming shooter as a title that could potentially remain active for over five years or do games have a specific shelf life these days? Sound off in the comments below and tell us what you think.
Destiny 2is set to launch on August 16, 2025 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
