Destiny's Story Was 'Substantially Revised' Before Release

Destiny developer Bungie made substantial revisions to the game's story shortly before its originally projected "September 2013" release date, according to new court documents.

The developer, along with Destiny publisher Activision, has been embroiled in a lawsuit with Marty O'Donnell, who composed the soundtracks for Bungie's Halo games as well as some of Destiny's.

Although the legal tussle pertains to O'Donnell being "fired without cause" and forced to surrender shares in the company, court documents published by VentureBeat have also revealed some unrelated facts about Destiny's development.

Among these is the claim that the game's seven month delay, apparently enacted a month before its internally projected September 2013 releasee date, was caused by changes being made to the narrative.

"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," reads the section two, paragraph ten of the document.

The obfuscated nature of Destiny's narrative has led to much fan speculation that large portions of it had been excised. The narrative issue has remained a passionate topic of discussion partially due to the pre-release assertions that the game would have lore rich enough to place Destiny alongside Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Halo, and Harry Potter.

In reality however, the majority of the game's backstory and context is currently delivered through text in Grimoire Cards, which aren't included in-game but on a website. Players have complained this implementation has made the broader lore inaccessible to all but the most dedicated and the in-game narrative somewhat lacking.

The next major Destiny expansion, The Taken King, is poised to introduce sweeping and significant changes to the core game. Among these is a reworked quest system, new cinematics, and a fresh story. Take a look at all the changes coming with The Taken King and the major patch preceding it here.