It’s rare to hear someone mourn the downfall of a rival. You don’t hear boxers get on the microphone and talk about how sad they are that their opponent got knocked out. Politicians are rarely deflated when they’ve won an election against a fierce adversary. Yet for those behind Warframe, Bungie’s decision to stop supporting Destiny 2 isn’t a moment of joy or relief, but rather “heartbreak,” according to Community Director Megan Everett.
Destiny 2 fans were devastated to hear that Bungie was ending live support for the game, with June 9’s Monument of Triumph the last major update for the FPS game. With players flooding back for one last hurrah on the game, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the developers behind Warframe, seen as Destiny 2’s biggest competition, would be glad to hear that the game was coming to an end, but that’s far from the case.
In fact, the Warframe team is extremely saddened by the news, calling it “earth-shattering” and stating that “no one is celebrating.” In fact, Digital Extremes was so sad, they created a special tribute to Destiny 2.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Community Director and Live Ops Lead Megan Everett said that they never “thought [they’d] see the day where I’d read an article from Bungie about Destiny 2 essentially shutting down.”
“I’m speaking personally, but I know people would echo it as well. No one is celebrating the fact that this has happened to Destiny, and its players, and that story,” Everett continued. “I know people have obviously compared us in terms of being ‘direct competitors’ and stuff like that, but I think a game is healthy when you have competitors, and [Destiny’s devs] have done such an amazing job trying to grow that story regardless of whatever situation they were in.”
“Overall, I hate to see that happen to them. I have close friends who play Destiny over Warframe. We have friends over there; to see this happen to them is devastating to the industry. To live in a reality where they’re gone isn’t a positive one.”
For Warframe, it’s clear that the team felt having competition from a giant like Bungie and Destiny 2 was good for it, and pushed it to continue improving the game to try to match up with its rival. They also view the two as different, each scratching a specific itch that the other didn’t.
“I think we’re so used to seeing a Warframe and Destiny comparison almost every single day working on the community team,” she said. “This can be a conversation that’s beneficial, seeing two games that are similar but are so different elsewhere, catering to two very different crowds. We tried the PvP thing, and we’re not a PvP game. If you’re coming to Warframe trying to scratch that itch, you’re going to have that itch for a long time.”
I think I would never say that what has happened to Destiny is a good thing, even though it ‘eliminates a competitor.’ I think competition is healthy. I’ve said forever, I never expect anyone to only play Warframe. You would burn out so fast if you did. So having other games that scratch a similar itch is healthy for our genre. Having Destiny is healthy for us.”
While their “competition” may be gone, Warframe will continue on, and just dropped its Jade Shadows: Constellations update on June 17.
