What's crazy about this is that "high profile streamers" are one of the leading factors of this blurb.

But this is only good for the games IMO. Now they definitely know what people don't like, so they'll make a next game that more people enjoy!

Yeah... basing budgets and profit forecasts on micro transactions just seems so iffy to me. It's almost like the sales of the game itself aren't important anymore... which just feels weird. Even if the wider market has proved (too many) people will spend (way too much) on funny hats...

I'm not a fan of microtransactions, but when they're purely cosmetic, are they really that bad?

We have yet to see Bungie deliver fully on their promise of free content funded by MTX revenues, but that sounds like it would be well worth the trade-off for me.

"We do think Bungie still has some opportunity to fix the game's problems over the next year and recapture engagement, but we're not sure they have the ability to pull it off at this point," analyst Doug Creutz wrote. "We also note that Destiny currently has more serious competition in its genre from a refurbished Division (Ubisoft) and the indie title Warframe than it did three years ago, when D1 had its own share of player dissatisfaction."

Now there's an analyst who does the research... Some folks these days are content with blaming PUBG.

He said several key "Destiny" video streamers have announced they will reduce content for the game in the future. He noted Twitch viewership for the game is at "franchise-low" levels averaging 4,000 to 7,000 viewers on Friday afternoons versus 14,000 to 17,000 for "Destiny 1" one year ago.

Since they received statements from him, Destiny has dropped under 1000 viewers on Twitch. Sure, it's not a Friday, but it's a continuing sign of decline. Personally, I think this is a good thing, and I've gotten a bit of schadenfreude from the Streamers who have less stuff to exploit, and have to resort to finding new ways to make their viewers find them interesting, but that's a silver lining for another thread.

Creutz also shared four key reasons why he believes the game is faltering:

• 1. "Design decisions were made that have made D2 a less engaging, and less distinctive, game than D1. In particular, key aspects of the D2 end game feel neutered compared to D1."
  
  
• 2. "Microtransaction implementation, while not nearly as problematic as in Star Wars Battlefront 2, has still been a source of player unhappiness."
  
  
• 3. "Bungie's [the studio that developed the game] apparent urgency in responding to player feedback has been disappointing."
  
  
• 4. "Until recently, Bungie did a poor job communicating its road map going forward, particularly compared to the more open stance of many other live service games."

It's really interesting to see that there's plenty of higher-ups over at Activision who are well aware of all of Bungie's current issues, and who are being informed about how they are hurting the bottom line (to the level where it's actually affecting Call of Duty's profit influx). It'll be interesting to see what steps Activision takes. I'd give anything to hear those conversations between them and the Bungie reps...

Losing players and streamers is serious, but I'm curious why this analyst is ignoring the other side of the coin here: microtransactions (and the various methods Destiny 2 uses to influence you to use them) upset some players and drive them off, but they also bring in a lot of money. Who's to say Bungie/ATVI haven't run the numbers and decided the extra dosh hauled in via aggressive MTX isn't offsetting the decrease in players, player activity, and popularity?

I know that Paul Tassi (the guy that writes about Destiny 2 pretty much every day for Forbes) isn't always very popular around here, but he sometimes has some interesting and even informative stuff to say; and since it was his article about how the "influencers" are all leaving that kind of kicked off this stuff, I found this article he published yesterday to be an interesting counterpoint -- and especially because it came my way via a tweet by Michael Pachter (a well known and highly respected financial analyst at Wedbush Securities, who specializes in video games and entertainment), with his take being:

Forbes article by @PaulTassi here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/01/24/a-warning-about-the-notion-that-destiny-2-will-drag-down-activisio... … basically saying don't listen to the loudest voices who complain about everything.

and also:

... Mr. Tassi correctly notes the potential for sell-side analysts to be too close to the subject matter, and to be influenced by angry gamers. Very insightful conclusions