This week NetEase and Bungie announced Destiny Rising, a new mobile Destiny game coming soon. This is Destiny, but not as we know it. We did know that NetEase gave Bungie an investment years ago, and this appears to be the fruits of that deal. Today I want to dive into Destiny Rising, and ask the question: Are you going to play Destiny on your mobile phone?
If you like the video then subscribe for more Destiny content, plus turn on notifications to never miss an update.
NetEase made the announcement on Monday about Destiny Rising, their new mobile version of Destiny, plus we have an Alpha Test starting very soon, on the 1st November in the US and Canada. I’ll post the link the description so you can check it out.
This is a new free-to-play mobile version of Destiny, so while the overiding themes are going to be similar, there are going to be some key differences. For example, rather than having a single Guardian and building them up, changing subclasses and all that, it’s likely we’re going to have a roster of heros, which we’ll likely have to spend money to collect them all. Given this is a mobile game from NetEase it’s worth highlighting that while it’s free to play, there is going to be monetisation here.
Bungie is licensing out the Destiny franchise to NetEase, so when NetEase ‘invested’ $100 million in Bungie back in 2018, that was mosyt likely the licensing deal where NetEase came to Bungie and said “Hey, we want to make a game with your IP” and Bungie then struck a deal.
Destiny Rising is a brand new story set in the Destiny universe, however, this is an alternate timeline in the post-Dark Age era. The game is going to have a roster of characters, with unique abilities and stories, plus a range of game modes too. There’s single player, co-op play, PVP and also new game modes too.
NetEase did have a few words in their press release and that is as follows.
“With Destiny: Rising, NetEase Games is honored to partner with Bungie to deliver a Destiny-caliber experience to mobile devices,” said Ethan Wang, Senior Vice President, NetEase, Inc. “Destiny is an incredible franchise with a passionate and dedicated global fanbase. As huge fans ourselves, we are humbled and thrilled for the opportunity to bring gamers an action-packed RPG shooter set within the Destiny Universe.”
“For over a decade, we have built this universe to contain many unique and wonderful stories, and we are excited to see mobile gamers be able to experience this new take on the Destiny universe from the creative team at NetEase,” said Terry Redfield, Creative Lead at Bungie.
NetEase also discussed some of the features in the game:
FPS on mobile
Experience iconic best-in-class sci-fi shooting action at your fingertips! Choose between the highly immersive first-person view or a new fully third-person action view and play with touchscreen or compatible controller precision.
This is interesting to me, the mix of 3rd person and first person. In Destiny and Destiny 2 we do have some select 3rd person views, like when you are using a sword or a relic. Here you can go into 3rd person view when using a weapon, which looks pretty interesting. How it’s going to play on mobile with the touch screen controls, I don’t know, I would much prefer playing with a controller rather than the screen, but that’s down to personal preference.
Characters
Enter an era of heroes and legends, where familiar faces from Destiny are joined by a host of new, intriguing characters. Each character comes with a rich personal story, unique personality, and formidable skills. Choosing the right character and mastering their combat style will be your key to overcoming the challenging foes that stand in your way.
I would imagine this is where at least some of the monetisation is going to come from, the characters. It looks like Ikora is here, maybe Osiris too, there’s a new female Speaker. There are new Guardians here for sure, we can see that in the key art. I would imagine powers and abilities are going to be fixed with characters, so one Guardian is the Void one, one is the Solar etc and you have to collect them all, and most likely pay for them.
Game Modes
Choose from a wide array of game modes such as campaign missions and 6-player co-op strikes that are iconic to the Destiny franchise, along with all-new and replayable PVE and PVP modes.
6 player strikes sound interesting. We have 6 player raids right now in Destiny 2, and 6v6 PVP. I tend to stick to PVE activities, so I’ll be interested in strikes, nightfalls, dungeons and raids.
Join the Action with Your Teammates
Embark on thrilling online multiplayer action along with your fellow players. Build strong clans, experience fun and casual party game modes, customize shared spaces, and more. Join in with your friends to fight off invading enemies or challenge them to test your skill.
Explore Earth after “The Collapse”
Journey through a world fighting back against the darkness: From the sanctuary of Haven, a refuge for the Lightbearers and survivors, to the icy, ancient metro of Jiangshi, and the arid expanse of the Red Sea Rift. Traverse diverse Sci-fi biomes and uncover hidden stories and adventures in a distant future Earth. Search for the seeds of hope that will shape the future of human civilization in an entirely new Destiny narrative.
From this it sounds like Haven is our new Tower or social space, somewhere to speak to vendors, pick up bounties and manage gear. This provide a little context about the story; this is before the establishment of the Last City and the Tower. We have some new locations here including the Red Sea Rift, Jiangshi and sci-fi biomes. We do see familiar enemies in the trailer including Vex and Hive, so there is some familiarity there.
Powerful Exotic Weapons
Countless powerful exotic weapons are available to customize according to your combat style. Explore different weapon and traits combinations, defeat enemies with different gameplay mechanics, and become the next master of arms.
This is still a looter shooter, so we have different rarities of weapons. We can see some familiar exotics in the trailer including Izanagi’s Burden Exotic Sniper, plus Sweet Business was shown off in the developer insight. They are adding a new tier called Mythic, which is above Exotic. I’m going to be keeping an eye on the monetisation and how to acquire these weapons and loot, and how much it’s going to differ from the main game.
From the trailers and developer deep dives, the game looks OK. The art style looks a little strange and the framerate is probably going to be weird, but it’s Destiny and looks better than I thought.
It’s worth noting that this deal has been in the works for some time, since 2018, which is 6 years. It’s not a new project introduced by Sony, infact Sony probbaly have very little to do with this. Bungie have been focusing down on core Destiny 2 projects and Marathon in recent months, canceling a load of other Destiny 2 projects according to reports. Bungie’s actual involvement in the project is likely to be small, other than sign off and direction. I would imagine they don’t want Ikora Rey turned into a man, or Cayde-6 turn up as a mechanical dog. There are some significant changes here already; the return of the speaker, also a female speaker, heroes etc. NetEase is deciding on the direction and bungie are kept in the loop.
NetEase is known for mobile games, most notably in the west with Diablo Immortal. It had a rocky start, but now does pretty well with regular updates and must be bringing in a lot of money for Blizzard and it’s various parent companies. NetEase and mobile games are known for their microtransactions, so it’s likely characters, cosmetics, abilities and weapons are going to require real life money to buy. We don’t know how this is going to manifest in game, but it’s not going to be like Destiny 2, and will likely put off many core Destiny 2 players. But this is about attracting new audiences; a mobile audience, and maybe not even a western audience, it’s likely to be focused on far eastern markets like China and South Korea.
I’m going to be checking out the game. I’ll likely check out the free elements of the game and see how far I can get with a free-to-play account, and see what’s possible and what’s not. Mobile games come with a certain reputation, and I’ll be interested to see how far NetEase push that envelope. In the past my mobile gaming has been limited to Marvel Snap. I’ve tried first person shooters on mobile, but none of them have really stuck with me, they were a novelty for a time, then I dropped them. If I want to play a game on the go then I have a steam deck or Nintendo Switch, and mostly that’s reserved for playing on planes and long-haul travel. When it comes to commuting or playing away from my desk at home, my gaming time is limited, so it’ll be interesting to see if Destiny Rising can change that.
I’m interested to know what you think about Destiny Rising. I did put a poll out and asked if you’d play, that’s currently sitting at 75% no and 25% yes. But sound off in the comments, I’d love to know what you think about it.