I probably should have done this back during the "surprise, you don't get to play it Alpha", but with today's news I am canceling my preorder. I love what I've seen of this game, I think I would have enjoyed it for years, but the message being sent to me by Bungie / Activation is just too crappy for me to put my dollars behind. If they want to tout some record breaking preorder number they can do it without me.

My issues are two fold:

1. The marketing of a beta for months and months only to drop a surprise alpha on me with no warning. That ominous announcement on Sony's stage at E3 2013, about the exclusive deal between Sony and Bungie. The one where they just announced they had a deal but didn't tell us what it was or what it meant... Yeah. It sucks. People have budgets. People make the best buying decisions they can. But it'd pretty darn hard to make the "correct" decision when something is kept secret until the hour that access is granted to all the people who happened to choose correctly. Again with this beta. They hold back the start date for two of the four systems for weeks and for what? I'd feel a lot better about this if things had been stated up front from the beginning.

2. Selling different things to two sets of people at the same price feels a bit like an insult to me. If I spend $60 or $100 or $150 on Destiny, but have the "wrong systems" I get less than those who spend $60 or $100 or $150 on Destiny for the "right system." Yes, the content is probably timed exclusivity, yes, it's probably not even that big of a deal. A paint job or slight speed boost isn't going to ruin anything, but it's the principle of the thing. Why is my money worth less than a Playstation owner's? What else will I not get or will be delayed for me because I'm on the wrong platform?

I really want to abuse my credit card and buy Destiny's Ghost Edition... But after these two incidents, the surprise Alpha and now the shorter beta, I know I don't want to support this industry accepted practice of exclusivity with a preorder and am seriously considering not supporting it at all. This will just keep happening unless gamers let game developers and publishers know we're tired of it. My advice to game developers is to just treat us, your customers, with more respect. Yes, behind the scenes deals are probably fairly lucrative, but your customer is me, dammit. Be up front with me, if you do a back room deal explain it to me, and give me the information I need to be on the right side or the console wars next time.

Anyway, Happy Bungie Day*

*Playstation owners...

This will just keep happening unless gamers let game developers and publishers know we're tired of it. My advice to game developers is to just treat us, your customers, with more respect.

Amen.

Waiting for something, anything, from Bungie.

- No text -

there's definitely something fishy with bungie these days.

after canning marty, and now alienating the folks that put them in their current state of prominence (face it, if the xbox had tanked, bungie would've vaporized), i'm not too excited anymore.

there's definitely something fishy with bungie these days.

You said it.

there's definitely something fishy with bungie these days.

Seriously.

Marathon? No fish.
Halo? Tiny sea life just under the surface on Silent Cartographer.
Halo 2? Fish.
Halo 3? You can go fishing.

You'll probably be able to play as a whale in Destiny 2. On Playstation 4, anyway.

- No text -

Whale DLC comes to XBox platforms one year later. It only runs in 720p on XBone. Oddly, it runs in 1080p on 360 and even Bungie doesn't know why.

something something something Star Trek IV

there's definitely something fishy with bungie these days.

after canning marty, and now alienating the folks that put them in their current state of prominence (face it, if the xbox had tanked, bungie would've vaporized), i'm not too excited anymore.

I don't have to face that, and you don't either unless you have inside information about Microsoft planning to close Bungie if their game and/or console didn't work out.
I honestly don't understand this idea having some debt to them to Xbox owners being held by people I assume are adults. Yes, we supported them, and we got games in return, and DLC, some it free, even. I guess it's this buddy-buddy feeling people get? I can see how Bungie might have brought that on themselves, at least. I don't know of any other company that straight-up says they love you. I'm sure most people have the maturity to know what that really means, but after years, and with many people getting into them in their teens, some even before that, maybe the interaction and the statements about the community being awesome and essential and how they're literally loved, maybe that did something.