PlayStation boss praises Destiny where other live service games 'failed'
Hermen Hulst, head of PlayStation Studios, is still buzzing over the company’s acquisition of Bungie. Who can blame him since Sony wants more live service titles, and the makers of Destiny know how to make good games in the genre.
In an interview on the PlayStation Blog, Hulst didn’t mince words about Bungie’s success over the years, particularly with Destiny.
“ work on Halo was phenomenal, in my mind some of the best shooters in history,” Hulst said. “And then there’s Destiny, a series still going strong after eight years, I think. Many people have tried to build a successful live service, and failed. Because it’s really hard. So Destiny’s success is very special.”
Hulst isn’t wrong about how making great live service games is hard. For every Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, or Final Fantasy 14, there are dozens of titles like Hyper Scape that don’t last. The PS5 is noticeably lacking when it comes to these kinds of games from first-party studios, so Bungie is a good fit.
When discussing what Bungie might work on for PlayStation, Hulst didn’t elaborate much.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with folks like Jason Jones and Pete Parsons, and some of the senior team over at Bungie,” Hulst explains. “And let me tell you that everyone’s very excited for Bungie and PlayStation Studios to share ideas, share some of our battle scars as well. And really, just learn from each other.”
We’ll probably learn more once the acquisition deal closes.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.