Destiny beta scores big!

It was hardly going to be a big surprise, but Activision have announced that the beta of their upcoming Destiny is the biggest beta of this console generation by a “wide margin”.

This announcement is perhaps a bit of a dig at EA’s similar beta for Titanfall, as developed by Respawn Entertainment- an outfit founded by developers that left Activision’s own Infinity Ward studio.

Considering Destiny is coming out on multiple formats and Titanfall is only on Xbox One, the Destiny beta hasn’t exactly had a lot of competition.

Regardless of inter-developer rivalries, the beta test was rather wonderful and certainly got a pre-order out of me.

The beta started on PS4 and PS3 on 18th July, with Xbox One and 360 coming online a couple of days later, proceedings came to a close on Monday evening NZ time.

A rather impressive 4,638,937 unique players participated in the test giving Bungie – Destiny’s developer – some vital data in preparation for the game’s launch on September 9th.

Here’s what Activision has to say about it all:

“This is the biggest beta of this console generation by a wide margin and the largest console beta ever for a new video game IP to date,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “Hosting a beta at this scale is an incredible feat, so we’re thrilled to see the phenomenal response. But the beta is just a taste of what’s to come. We’re counting down the days to our launch day.”

Destiny Beta scores big!

The game’s developer, Bungie, were equally thrilled.

“We were totally blown away by the number of people who played the beta,” said Pete Parsons, COO of Bungie. “We surpassed even our own goals and the feedback was invaluable. We cannot thank the community enough, the response was humbling and in the weeks ahead we’ll be working hard to ensure that Destiny lives up to the expectations at launch.”

In Destiny players are cast as Guardians- protectors of the last city on Earth. They will explore the ancient ruins of the solar system, from the red dunes of Mars to the lush jungles of Venus. Wielding incredible power, gamers will find themselves battling against humanity’s enemies to reclaim all that was lost during the collapse of mankind’s Golden Age.

Destiny is a first-person shooter that immerses players in a seamlessly connected universe filled with cooperative, competitive, public, and social activities.

Part role-playing game, part first-person shooter and part massively multiplayer online game, Destiny promises to bring something a bit different to the table when it arrives on Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in September.