These are the words that have been echoing throughout the forums as of late and up until a few hours ago, I have been inclined to believe it. This has, by far, been the worst Bungie Day in history. I had actually completely forgot that Bungie day was even coming, so I'm glad I was caught off guard instead of having looked forward to the plethora of disappointing announcements we got.

I haven't posted TOO much on here lately, but I feel that this is a subject that has been very important to the Bungie community, and I hate standing by in silence.

I feel that we, as a community, have been behind Bungie through thick and thin. They have done nothing but support and throw their love back to us in every way possible, and that is something that I will always cherish. To be honest though, we have to realize that this is a completely different Bungie than we are used to. They are no longer building off the success of Halo through the creation of sequels. They have to do something different, something new, something that will blow us away. How often do you see a company give up one of the most popular games of all time in order to make something new?

I'll get to the main point behind this post. Bungie is in a position where they have to make this game work. If they fail here, they could collapse. And whether you like it or not, the PS4 is outselling the XBO in leaps and bounds. This is a new untapped market that they are doing their best to rope in. Bringing in that many new fans is never an easy thing to do, and in today's generation, exclusives are how you do it. These PS fans could make the difference between life and death for Bungie.

So don't think of all of these announcements as Bungie giving up on us, think of this as Bungie paving the way for their own future so that we can all see them succeed down the road. And isn't that what we really want to see?

As the Bungie community, we have gotten Bungie to where they are right now. The only way for them to succeed is for us to allow them to define their own path and do what is necessary for their survival as a company. Let them do what has to be done and support them for it. That's what makes us Bungie fans. We support the developer that we love even when we feel that mistakes have been made. We forgive, we forget, and we throw our money at them all the same.

They already have the Xbox community behind them, all they need now is the Playstation fans to jump on board. To put it into a way that you may better understand, you can't build a giant (world dominating) slingshot with only half a frame.

Trust in Bungie, buy the game if you like it, buy it for the system that you love, and enjoy the next 10 years of Bungie-goodness. It's going to be an awesome ride :)

Yes. Well said.

Everything is still very much up in the air, though things are looking quite good for the outcome. Best to choose the optimal place to land, and from their vantage point (and given a plethora of factors within the industry and the market) PS4 is the optimal target.

Every time there's been a change in which platforms Bungie is catering to, the net has been cast wider and wider. As Kermit said, when the quality of the final product suffers, then it's time to worry.

I do wonder whether the preferential treatment will extend to the full run of the IP, though. And if they'll ever be able to make the final step over to cross-platform, effectively nullifying all the ire that's currently being cast by the community at large.

The future is bright, either way.

~m

I do wonder whether the preferential treatment will extend to the full run of the IP, though. And if they'll ever be able to make the final step over to cross-platform, effectively nullifying all the ire that's currently being cast by the community at large.

I doubt it. This seems like a necessary "evil" that Bungie needs to go through in order to secure the most customers. Once they do that, the games are going to speak for themselves and they will most likely go the route of preorder exclusives instead of console exclusives. Or even if they do console exclusives, maybe they will have exclusive content for BOTH systems or none at all.

They already have the Xbox community behind them, all they need now is the Playstation fans to jump on board. To put it into a way that you may better understand, you can't build a giant (world dominating) slingshot with only half a frame.

So this is where I keep getting stuck. I agree with much of your post, but it is this concept that really creates the conflict for me. In effect, the statement above has Bungie assuming support from those who have supported them for a long time. In a way, this can be viewed as punishing loyalty.

Secondly, the hot trend right now is PS over XBox. Bungie's PS bias could be viewed as (again) abandonment of a loyal fan base.

Let me try to work this out...Bungie doesn't owe XBox any loyalty, but isn't there some sort of responsibility to loyal customers? Some, I guess, but of lesser priority when survival (and a bigger fan base, and money) is in the conversation.

I think the crux of the issue for me is this: Bungie values me, specifically, less than it does any PS owner. It's apparent in every press release they issue, in every PS-exclusive perk.

They can say it isn't like that, but it is exactly like that. By assuming my loyalty, by heavily penalizing me, they are, in effect saying "we'll take your money because we know you will give it to us, no matter what we do".

Am I nuts? Should this not bother me? Should it bother me way less? Is there no real issue here? I am asking honestly. I am about to cut off my nose to spite my face...

Am I nuts? Should this not bother me? Should it bother me way less? Is there no real issue here? I am asking honestly. I am about to cut off my nose to spite my face...

No, you're fine.

But we also need to keep in mind that we don't know who's fault all this is. The industry as a whole, sure, but beyond that it gets impossible to narrow down. Look at DeeJ's statement yesterday, my take away from it was that Bungie didn't really want these things to happen but they were necessary to bring us Destiny just like the move to the Xbox was necessary to bring us Halo and the decade of fun it spawned. It's all right to feel a little hurt and left out but the line needs to be drawn there. Maybe Bungie doesn't like you anymore, or maybe they fought to keep the exclusives timed and the platform differences to a minimum. We'll probably never know which it is, but I always try and fall on the side of optimism. I don't always succeed, but I try...

You can be bothered, but maybe Bungie is hoping you have a reservior of trust based on all they've delivered to you in years past.

Playstation folks don't have any of that built up, so the big pitch is aimed at them. Yes, PS is the hotter of the two consoles at this moment, but I think that's irrelevant and was not forseen when this strategy was decided upon.

A new chain comes to town. They have a big sale. They have giveaways. They do this because no one in town is automatically excited. They've never shopped at Bungie before. In many ways it's standard retail.

They already have the Xbox community behind them, all they need now is the Playstation fans to jump on board. To put it into a way that you may better understand, you can't build a giant (world dominating) slingshot with only half a frame.

In effect, the statement above has Bungie assuming support from those who have supported them for a long time. In a way, this can be viewed as punishing loyalty.

From a business standpoint, this is called an "established market". Yes, the company knows that the demand exists from the Xbox market. Those are the people who have bought and approved of Bungie products for over a decade. That market is a surefire win, and it's about the market, not about you specifically. That said, Bungie's not holding back on delivering a product that will be worth every penny that you spend. They won't Infinity Ward the Xbox version just because they know it'll sell.

Secondly, the hot trend right now is PS over XBox. Bungie's PS bias could be viewed as (again) abandonment of a loyal fan base.

Abandonment would be Playstation exclusivity. Offering one market a few incentives to join is not abandonment, it is enticing that new market by saying "you get this, those other guys won't!"
The exclusive content doesn't have to be more than an emblem or sticker, but the bigger it is, the more people will want it, especially if they know that other people outside of their circle aren't getting it. That's how you hook a new group of wallets, and hopefully you make loyal wallets.
Also, yeah the hot trend is PS over Xbox, and with good reason. It's a much bigger market, and it's a superior product from a developer standpoint. Those two things guarantee preferential treatment from publishers, because it's less of a risk to invest in. The Xbox has been making some strides to fix the image with the market (Now with 8% more power!), but for now, it remains the number two product (of two and 1/2 products).

Let me try to work this out...Bungie doesn't owe XBox any loyalty, but isn't there some sort of responsibility to loyal customers?

Nope. Zero. Zip. Nothing. A company makes products designed to sell. Who buys them is irrelevant. You could be their number one customer and receive zero preferential treatment. Bungie is a company. They owe you nothing, and yet, they didn't go exclusive, and they're not cutting content from your version of the game. They'll still play with you, they'll still make content and DLC for the Xbox version, but to say that you deserve to be special is pure arrogance.

I think the crux of the issue for me is this: Bungie values me, specifically, less than it does any PS owner. It's apparent in every press release they issue, in every PS-exclusive perk.

That's how you interpret it. That's not how a person who looks at it objectively sees it. As I've said before, it makes zero sense how in this age of "exclusive content" and "limited exclusivity", this one instance is the one that drives people crazy. Formerly Playstation exclusive Insomniac going Xbox exclusive? Alright yay! Xbox wins! Formerly Xbox exclusive Bungie offering some bonus content to Playstation owners? The gaming industry is corrupt, disloyal, and greedy! I'm being punished for being a loyal customer!

They can say it isn't like that, but it is exactly like that. By assuming my loyalty, by heavily penalizing me, they are, in effect saying "we'll take your money because we know you will give it to us, no matter what we do".

Again, you're taking it personally, it's clearly not like that, and anyone who honestly believes this borders on delusional.

Am I nuts? Should this not bother me? Should it bother me way less? Is there no real issue here? I am asking honestly. I am about to cut off my nose to spite my face...

No comment.

Abandonment would be Playstation exclusivity. Offering one market a few incentives to join is not abandonment, it is enticing that new market by saying "you get this, those other guys won't!"
The exclusive content doesn't have to be more than an emblem or sticker, but the bigger it is, the more people will want it, especially if they know that other people outside of their circle aren't getting it. That's how you hook a new group of wallets, and hopefully you make loyal wallets.

I can't think of a single time I've made a purchasing decision based on whether other people get to buy what I'm buying. Do that many people really worry about having some kind of "superiority" over other consumers? That seems pretty petty to me.

Thank you for the patience, and the thoughtful responses.

I think I'm good.

I actually just watched a 60 Min special on moralism in children. One of the points was the younger we are the more we want others to have less. One example was a child could choose to take 2 coins and give 2 coins to another child (that wasn't present) or take 1 coin and not have the other child get any. Over 3/4 of the child choose the later, because they wanted more than the other, even if it was less than the first option.

We tend to grow out of this as we age but an interesting study none the less that seems to be proving true with today's gaming exclusives.

I'm with you, let's all get a full pie, but apparently human nature and money has trumped that!

Abandonment would be Playstation exclusivity. Offering one market a few incentives to join is not abandonment, it is enticing that new market by saying "you get this, those other guys won't!"
The exclusive content doesn't have to be more than an emblem or sticker, but the bigger it is, the more people will want it, especially if they know that other people outside of their circle aren't getting it. That's how you hook a new group of wallets, and hopefully you make loyal wallets.

I can't think of a single time I've made a purchasing decision based on whether other people get to buy what I'm buying. Do that many people really worry about having some kind of "superiority" over other consumers? That seems pretty petty to me.

Yeah. Although I mostly agree with Korny on the big picture, I think that's not the best way to state it. Exclusives entice. There's no getting away from it. There's a greater need to entice Playstation users. There's no getting away from that either.

I hypothesized yesterday about one day being able to play cross-platform. That would be awesome, but it has to become something that becomes advantageous for platforms to adopt. In most respects, I think competition is good. The PS4 wouldn't be as good as it is without all the learning that happened while Microsoft was eating Sony's lunch. XBox Live is still a better service than PSN, I think, but Playstation is coming along. I actually liked many of Microsoft's ideas at the Xbox One launch, but I was in the minority, people voted with their wallets, and now I don't see huge advantages to either platform. Seems like many people weren't sure they wanted an Xbox before it became available without Kinect. This is the market at work. It doesn't always work out to suit our personal preferences, but over time we usually end up with something better than what we'd have without competition. Without competition, there's much less drive to be better. For instance, Halo 5 will be a better game in part because of the existence of Destiny.

tl;dr Competition is good and makes games and platforms better over time.

Typing phone so forgive any autocorrect typos.

Think of what Bungie is doing in the same way as other companies doing a new customer discount. The loyal customers are still supported, but new customers get a new customer discount. The loyal customers may be upset that new people get a lower price for for the same service, but you should be happy that you've gotten such great service over the past 10 years. This isn't an attack on the loyal customers, it is a security for the future.

Total abandonment is if this company dropped all of its customers and started targeting a completely different demographic. This isn't what Bungie is doing. They are supporting their loyal fans with an incredible game while dangling a delicious carrot in front of the millions of new fans that they hope to capture.

Bungie isn't leaving us, they are just becoming stronger. They have been supporting us with amazing games for the past 10 years, the least we could do is trust them :)

Remember last year when I spoke out against the platform exclusives in Destiny on the ASE podcast, and nobody got behind me?

Look at the forum now.

Although you guys are taking it as a personal attack, rather than an artistic disservice.