Destiny is growing as a franchise! There will be Destiny movies and TV series coming following Bungie’s hiring of former Warner Bros. exec Gabriel VanHuss. This is the latest in a trend of game to visual media adaptations we’ve seen lately. Chief ringleader in all this is Sony, and guess who just recently purchased the Bungie studio. Therefore, with this recent news, it seems clear the Destiny IP is shifting mediums.
The Game Post reports that Gabriel VanHuss is now the Head of Linear Media for the Destiny IP at Bungie. You can see what VanHuss said himself below in a Linked In post.
“I recently took the gig as Head of Linear Media for the Destiny franchise at Bungie. This new position will work with the Destiny Universe Leadership team to create strategy and execute the operations for expansion of Destiny into new media, including TV, films, books, comics, and audio formats,” the post reads.
“Destiny has a universe worth of stories waiting to be told, and I look forward to connecting best-in-class partners to our amazing creative team to bring them to life for current and new fans. Eyes up, guardian!”
VanHuss previously served as a VP of Development & Programming/Executive Producer at Warner Bros. Discovery’s MotorTrend Group. Prior to that, he worked at Crunchyroll as the Head of Content Programming.
Long time readers likely know I am a Destiny fan and Destiny 2 is the video game I play the most when I get a minute, which isn’t often. However, I am genuinely unsure whether this IP can make the jump from game to screen as seamlessly as the likes of The Last Of Us. Destiny and it’s still active sequel are live service, looter shooter games. The story within Destiny was terrible for a long time in the first game, however that’s not why people played it. The gameplay and gunplay was excellent, that was the major draw.
Now, over time the story aspect of the IP has improved. Recent years have seen major improvements to the overall story and the lore has been expanded. At the same time though, the story also needs to fit whatever activity has been designed for gameplay. It is therefore never quite as consistent as a story driven IP.
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The point is that whilst there is potential there, and Destiny has some great cutscenes, it’s not a story driven game. My last session was farming the same Nightfall strike over and again as fast as possible, to farm medals for an event that’s on right now. Sure, we get a new mission here and there, and new Dungeons and Raids, but neither of the latter is particularly story focused outside of lore you read later. There are some great lore videos out there, and I find the lore fascinating because I play the game. However, it remains to be seen for me.
My guess would be that any adaptations will focus on the history of the franchise rather than the ‘player’ character. For a start, we are far too strong to be the central protagonist in a story in my opinion. Plus, some of the history is slightly more epic and tragic, which may make for better drama on screen. I guess I would be interested to see what happened to Eris Morn’s team when they went into Crota’s lair.
I’ll write up a small preview if we ever get to the stage of a trailer coming for a show or film, until then though, there’s no point. Overall, much as this is one of my favorite games of all time, there’s simply no hype for me yet on the expansion into other media. Hope I am proved wrong. I also assume this will be animated because live-action would just be far too expensive to pull off, and feel epic. Who knows?
So, Destiny movies and TV series are coming following Bungie’s hiring of former Warner Bros. exec Gabriel VanHuss. What do you think of this latest news? As always, leave any thoughts below, eyes up, Guardian.
