Report: Destiny 2 Rebooted Development Back In 2016

While Destiny 2 has proven to be a big hit with Activision, it's had its fair share of bumps in the road following its release, namely with certain content being locked behind Expansion packs, microtransaction issues and other small problems that have gotten in the way of enjoyment. However, some new information suggests that this is due to a shift in development midway through its creation.

The game reportedly began development back in 2014, just two months after the launch of the original game. However, on a recent episode of the Destiny Tracker podcast, Kotaku's Jason Schreier noted that it didn't always stay a smooth process.

While speaking with the show's hosts, Schreier noted that "there was a big reboot of Destiny 2 at some point in early 2016." He didn't go into extreme details about what happened, but there was definitely a change in leadership. "There had been a previous director who was directing the game before Luke Smith, who's the current director, took over. So that guy was kind of put aside, and Luke Smith took over," he noted.

The first Destiny had close to five years "counting the pre-production" when it came to development, but Destiny 2 had a much shorter time frame, about 16 months after getting out of its reboot phase. With that, Schreier noted that many pieces of the game's planned content ended up being scrapped, including the return of certain characters and being able to explore certain planets. As a result, the team focused more on creating new content for the game from scratch, instead of improving other mechanics within it.

Schreier also went into detail about what happened with the Eververse, which many players feel is a very controversial element. The team at Bungie reportedly didn't have the time or development funds to create several expansions, so instead, it explained that "we're going to do a smaller or drip feed of smaller stuff, and we're going to put up the Eververse and make money that way." The publisher agreed to the plan, but many players have failed to see the benefit, especially with a number of cosmetic goods being locked away without being able to use it.

Since we don't have Bungie's side of the story (or, for that matter, Activision's), this report probably should be taken with a grain of salt, since it's not entirely official info. But it would make sense to some players, especially those that were expecting to get more out of Destiny 2 than they did. You can watch the podcast above.

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