The one downside to Destiny 2’s PC launch was that existing players couldn’t transfer their original Destiny characters over. Since the original Destiny was console-only, PC fans wanting to play the sequel had to do so from scratch. Now, a recent report suggests Bungie wanted to implement cross-platform characters transfers, but Sony nixed those plans.
Destiny 2 Blocked Cross-Platform Character Transfers
The report comes courtesy of a recent episode of Kotaku’s Splitscreen podcast. During the episode, veteran game reporter Jason Schreier discussed the whole content exclusivity deal involving Sony and Destiny 2. Schreier, who covered Destiny’s development in his book Blood, Sweat, and Pixels, specifically focused on Sony’s meddling.
Because of an exclusivity agreement between Sony and former Destiny publisher Activision, some content was time-gated to the PlayStation 4. Specific pieces of content (weapons, Strikes, Crucible maps, etc.) would only be available on PS4 during the game’s launch year. This was a continuing deal from the original Destiny, a deal which has also long-irked fans of the series.
As Schreier revealed during the podcast, Sony’s desire for exclusivity went even deeper though. Apparently, Bungie wanted to enable cross-platform Destiny 2 character transfers between Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Such a feature would have enabled players to transfer their existing Destiny and Destiny 2 characters over to PC. However, Schreier also said that Sony specifically said no.
According to Schreier, Sony wanted the Destiny franchise to be as heavily associated with the PlayStation 4 as possible. As part of that plan, Sony wanted to ensure that PS3/PS4 Destiny players stayed on PS4 for Destiny 2. Schreier also took issue with Sony’s spinning of the situation so that it would seem like a boon for Destiny 2 players. The company wanted to spin it like they were giving PS4 players a great deal. In reality, though, they were just “screwing over other players” as Schreier put it.
Cross-Platform Woes
Sony, of course, has a long and sordid history of pushing back against cross-platform functionality. The company refused to play ball when games like Minecraft and Rocket League started enabling cross-platform play. It was also only because of severe fan pushback that Sony finally caved on enabling cross-platform support for Fortnite.
It’s important to remember that no console manufacturer is entirely on the side of gamers. They are businesses, after all, and they can do some pretty cold things for the sake of profits. Before Sony and Activision’s Destiny partnership, Activision was cozy with Microsoft, resulting in time-exclusive Call of Duty content on Xbox. Ironically enough, Sony poached that deal as well, with the time-exclusive stuff now also being on PS4. And let us not mention all the anti-consumer tricks Nintendo has pulled over the years.
The point is, the whole Sony-Bungie situation sucks, but other game console makers are far from innocent. Gamers should absolutely make their voices heard, but they shouldn’t be surprised when console makers keep pulling shady moves.
In lighter news, Destiny 2’s Revelry event is now live. The event follows closely on the heels of the game’s sizeable 2.2.1 update.