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Experts predict the immersive sci—fi fantasy — the world’s most expensive video game — will change the face of gaming

It all began more than 20 years ago, in a cramped student flat in Chicago, where two friends, Jason Jones and Alex Seropian, programmed computer games from their living room and hand-assembled the boxes. But next week, Bungie, a company that has grown from a team of two to more than 500 employees, will release the world’s most expensive and eagerly awaited video game — to an expected 10 million players.

Many claim that Destiny will revolutionise the face of gaming when it hits shelves globally on Tuesday (September 9), in the same way that Halo, the influential franchise that put Bungie on the map, did when it was released in 1999.

First new project after Halo

Destiny will be Bungie’s first new project since Halo, and the anticipation and secrecy surrounding it has already ensured it is the most pre-ordered piece of entertainment software in history. When a beta demo version was released in July, a record-breaking 4.6 million people played it.

In a sign of the increasingly mainstream nature of video games, Paul McCartney has co-composed the soundtrack — a 50-minute orchestral suite — as well as writing a theme song for the game.

“The hype levels that have surrounded the game have been stratospheric, it’s ridiculous,” said Alan Ismail, who has racked up more than 15m views on his YouTube gaming video blogs under the name Moreconsole and has worked with Bungie to test out Destiny. “This is definitely a game that is going to change the industry.

It’s a decade-long project as well, and you see Bungie comparing their game to Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, that kind of epic sci-fi trilogy, and they want to build this universe that will last a decade.” A sci-fi fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic world 700 years in the future, it enables players to become “guardians”, travelling through space, either alone or with friends, with the task of investigating and destroying aliens before the human race is wiped out. The project has cost $500m — more than twice the budget of the new Star Wars films.

Focus on social aspect of game

Derek Carroll, a designer for Bungie who has worked on Destiny for almost five years, said the investment had been strongly focused on the social aspect of the game and of the Destiny universe, which is what has set it apart from other games. It can only be played online, ensuring everyone entering the Destiny universe is connected and can appear and interact in each other’s games. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2014