‘Destiny 2: Forsaken’ Not Meeting Sales Expectations, Says Activision

Bungie has been working overtime to assure that Destiny 2 is getting back up to speed with audience numbers, adding a new Forsaken expansion with a Gambit multiplayer mode in an effort to improve overall game reception. However, it doesn't look like it's going over as planned.

A net bookings report from Activision Blizzard's third quarter for 2018 estimates that sales are down for the series; and although there is good interest from players, it's "not performing as we as we'd like," the company noted.

Activision did state that engagement metrics for Destiny 2 is high with the addition of its expansion, and monthly active users are definitely on the rise. Plus, promotions are working in its favor, including giving away the game for free on PC for a limited time through the Battle.net service.

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision, said that while "Forsaken is a high-quality expansion" that has seen strong reception from critics and fans, he noticed that some die-hard Destiny players are sitting it out until they see what else is added to the game for the long run.

With sales numbers provided by SuperData, Destiny 2 showed that three-fifths of Destiny's audience invested in Forsaken, making it to the top of the charts for its debut month. However, it doesn't appear that momentum stayed there for it.

Now the company may be looking into how it can work with Bungie on improving its way of life and bringing players back into the fold. We're not sure if this means going with a free-to-play structure or more promotional giveaways, like Battle.net and, previously, PlayStation Network, as it didn't quite lay out its "battle plan." But it's hoping that the series becomes prosperous again, especially following "the largest PC launch in Activision history based on units" on PC. Clearly, more is needed -- now it's just a matter of seeing where it comes from.

The company didn't report specific numbers in terms of sales, but obviously it was expecting Destiny to take off in the same way as the Call of Duty franchise has. After all, WWII led it back to prosperity, becoming the top-selling game of 2017.

Destiny 2: Forsaken is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

(Hat tip to PCGamesN for the scoop!)