Well, there we have it guys – the suspicion that Destiny‘s story underwent dramatic changes during development have essentially been confirmed thanks to some leaked court documents obtained by VentureBeat. The statements, which pertain to an ongoing dispute between former Bungie employee Marty O’Donnell and the studio itself reveal some interesting information regarding the troubled development history of the game.
Although Destiny was planned for release in September 2013, the story was substantially revised beginning August 2013, requiring a new release date of March 2014 and edits to much of the work previously completed.
After a brief vacation/sabbatical in early fall, O’Donnell returned, worked on the story and recorded dialogue, but wrote no additional music. His supervisor and the audio team did not consider him to be fully engaged in the work of Audio Director. For reasons unrelated to O’Donnell’s performance, the release date was again moved, to September 2014.
The comments are extremely interesting, to say the least. They mark the first concrete confirmation that Destiny did, in fact, undergo various changes to its story that many suspected it had when the final product released in September last year. While the game is undeniably successful even a year later, many fans have voiced their complaints that the narrative felt bare-bones and bland despite Bungie promising an epic sci-fi story during pre-release events.
Bungie have yet to make any statements concerning the news, and the studio have been tight-lipped concerning the subject ever since it surfaced. As always though, we’ll keep you posted when we hear more.
