I see it as a 2-pronged problem honestly. The community being one. [spoiler] There have always been crappy members of the community for sure. Hell, people used to give death threats out to Tess' VA all because of the in-game character and her placement as the face of the microtransaction store. Hence why they stopped showing her face-to-face interaction outside of the Dawning. Problem there, of course, is that those early days of Eververse were pretty damned predatory and arguably still are. Bungie created that problem, albeit unintentionally. There will also always be shitty people on the internet who probably have never played a Bungie game and will harp on anyways. You could also chalk it up to the chuds who were brought along from Halo and the toxic gaming sphere of the old days. That's just how things are even if don't will them so.[/spoiler] The other prong is that Bungie has to owe up to accountability, regardless of what it means to them and to us. [spoiler] A lot of people put their time and money just into Destiny itself so I really don't believe that anyone who has ever played longer than the introductory missions or the first few years want Destiny to completely shut down or Bungie HQ to get the lights turned off. That said, Bungie leadership is responsible for everything that has happened from what I have seen and heard. The team layoffs, the issues with art being stolen multiple times and not being vetted, the bad game direction at times and even the more financial aspects of the studio. Even the choice of the in-house game engine that is managing to function still by some sheer miracle despite being a clearly outdated and damaging gamble. Or maybe the fact that it was stated that Marathon is going to be a game not designed for Destiny players yet ironically having an ad for it plastered directly in Eververse in order to garner attention. Marathon wont be the end of Destiny 2 and I don't believe it will be a catastrophic failure. What's more likely is it will make a small enough splash to grab some vg news headlines and will fall out of relevancy after a few months, granted that's if it's not a resounding success for its niche focus. That, however, does not excuse their lack of transparency. Dmg gets raked over the coals constantly and, while some out of touch remarks/posts did bring that upon himself, he is not the person who should be getting the full brunt of the flak. It should be the Bungie leadership instead. People like Justin Truman and those who hand down his directions to the devs and staff at Bungie, like the Chief Officer roles. Things happen for a reason even if it's a bullshit and unnecessary reason. Even Sony recognizes that despite their investment. If Bungie doesn't address the community about the state Destiny is in and where it is going forward, how it will move in tandem with Marathon after it launches, you can't say that a bad faith post lambasting Bungie/Marathon by DongleToggle#5679 is what's wrong with the community as if it has had any serious impact. There's a reason why people quote "We are listening" as if it is a bad joke. Player retention. Microtransaction, preorder and expansion sales. Investor confidence. PR across social media and gaming news media, good and bad. That's what does have an impact and is what needs to be looked at and talked about.[/spoiler] We're simply at a point where we have to accept the fact that Bungie could very well be shuttered in the near future and that it will be entirely self-inflicted.

Marathon has been bad for Destiny 2. Bungie moved most dev resource to work on it and it’s this choice that’s largely resulted in D2 being in the state it’s currently in. However it’s clear that D2 cannot sustain Bungie on its own. Bungie has around 850 staff, on an average of circa $100k per year. At a basic level, ignoring building costs, utilities, employee benefits etc.. they need to pull in more than $85million a year. Getting another product out there is crucial. While Marathon is the primary cause of D2’s ills, it’s also the only chance there is for a cure as well. Personally, I don’t see Marathon being a success. For me it just looks aesthetically bad, from character to location/environment design. It’s got failure written all over it, imo.

Community has been terrible from the start. The reason they went "dark" way back when, was precisely because of the hate and death threats back then. Yall may not been around, but some 12 yr old white kid in Iowa caused a shitstorm too. Humanity is in a bad spot, add the anonymity of the internet and it's even worse.

Why do people lash out over a video game? It really makes little sense other than misdirected anger. People bring a lot of their emotional baggage to this forum (and other online spaces). Anonymity is basically a free pass to behave in a way most people would be ashamed to do face to face. I was reading recently about people who pay to smash up a room - it’s a type of rage “therapy”. Seems like it could be fun, but I’m not convinced it’s healthy. I think that’s how some people treat online spaces - like rage rooms.

Carl Lewis begg to differ my dude

Agreed, also part of the community is completely clueless about how things work in a big company like Bungie. And it feeds anger and resentment, as they imagine « all Bungie have to do is ….. », when reality is much more complex. Marathon need to pop, and it’s not D2 replacement, but of course when you offer a new product you want to market it to your existing customers. If Bungie pulls the plug on D2 this will only be because the game is not financially viable anymore, not because they want you to buy the new toy.

Agreed.