For example, the lore behind Savathun far predates the current events in Destiny 2. As a Hive Goddess, Savathun is nigh immortal and far predates even humanity’s Golden Age, which itself already predates the first game by a considerable amount of time. This means that in just one character alone. Destiny has a lot it could cover in non-gaming adaptations. There’s no reason to leave all of this source material unillustrated when so many fans would be interested in seeing it further realized through film or other media. This makes Sony and Bungie’s interests in developing Destiny into a multimedia franchise a very sensible one, and a logical next step for the series.
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Destiny’s Movie Potential
The story of Destiny also continues to grow both through expansions and seasons. While these are pivotal to the current narrative in Destiny 2, they also provide other foundations that movies based on the Destiny franchise could explore. Films about key characters could be introduced as a means to fill in their backstories and could even touch on the relationships present in Destiny. While Saint 14 and Osiris have spent some time together onscreen, most of their appearances in Destiny are without each other, and the relationship between Mara Sov and Sjur Eido has seen even less focus.
Filling in these gaps for characters that are so important to the story in Destiny would provide another way for Destiny to grow. Sony’s acquisition of Bungie could already mean a lot of growth for Destiny 2, but it doesn’t only have to have an impact on the game itself. The interest of both parties to expand on the franchise’s media is encouraging, and developing movies and shows is a step that should help to push what the series’ story can do. There isn’t a necessity for movies based in the Destiny universe to follow the player’s character, and with how the greater story can grow, there’s a new opportunity to fill out other stories.
Even past the more notable characters, there’s an opportunity to delve into some of the inner workings of Destiny’s universe through movies following Sony’s acquisition of Bungie. The main characters presented in the games might be figureheads in their societies, but they aren’t the only important aspects present.
Events like the Cabal Empire’s expansion could be used as a way to explore that species’ time in the cosmos, and the survival of Eliksni following The Whirlwind would be an interesting juxtaposition to humanity’s fate after the collapse. Each of these events has been touched on in Destiny, lore but because of how important information in the game is conveyed outside of main storylines it also means that many fans might not be too familiar with them.
As a result, future Destiny movies and other projects are a veritable Pandora’s Box of possibilities when it comes to filling in the Destiny universe. This might be best compared to how Star Wars canon has expanded following the franchise’s acquisition by Disney. There’s a lot of great material to use, and focusing on the right things could generate shows and movies that fans love like The Clone Wars and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
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Sony’s Development of Video Game Movies and Shows
Sony also brings a lot to the table when it comes to adapting the Destiny franchise for the big screen. Given the company’s other projects, like the Uncharted movie that releases later this month, it’s no surprise that part of Sony’s interest in Bungie comes from wanting to turn its main franchise into a larger series. This type of endeavor can not only be profitable, but rewarding. Many fans enjoy seeing their favorite series getting the opportunity to grow and Sony’s experience building up other franchises like Spider-Man, The Last of Us, and Uncharted shows that it can create a series of Destiny movies that fans would enjoy.
Its dedicated PlayStation Originals production studio also means that video games that Sony wants to expand on have a dedicated studio to rely on as they start to grow beyond the confines of PlayStation consoles and PC. While fans have had strong reactions to movies based on video games in the past, such as the live-action Sonic movie, the PlayStation Originals studio could prove to be a reliable mediator between the two mediums.
Being able to bridge the fine line between what fans will pay to see and what executives would like to accomplish with a movie can be incredibly difficult, something that will need to be considered for future multimedia projects based on Bungie IPs. Previously it has been achieved, but not finding this balance has also resulted in productions that are used as cautionary tales, such as the now-infamous Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993.
While Sony’s acquisition of Bungie does come with some concerns to contrast these positives it’s clear that it can retain a lot of its value. There’s a lot that Sony can do to help Bungie develop the Destiny franchise beyond video games, and the partnership could be lucrative both financially, and because of its overall entertainment value.
On top of this, promises to keep the Destiny developer independent and focused on multiplatform games show some of the differences in Sony and Microsoft’s approach to acquisitions. Fans have been told they’ll have a reliable avenue to continue to enjoy Bungie-developed titles, and the developer itself now has both an influx of capital to support its operations, as well as Sony being a larger parent company to help Bungie achieve some of its other multimedia goals.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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