During the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Polygon’s Ben Kuchera spoke with Activision Publishing CEO Erik Hirshberg about the future of Bungie’s upcoming Destiny. While the focus was on the development of the title for multiple consoles, Hirshberg did confirm that the company is mulling over the idea of porting the game to personal computers.
When asked about a PC version, Hirshberg said that “it’s something we’re talking about and looking at very carefully.” He went further to say that with the type of game Destiny is, it would make sense for it to be played on a computer. Paired with the shooter and massive multiplayer tied into a central world, it seems like it would be a natural fit for computer gamers.
However, Hirshberg wasn’t prepared to make any sort of announcement for a future release. He did say that it is “a heavy point of discussion” within the company. When thinking about the idea of Destiny already being developed for four platforms, adding another could stretch the team thinner in the process. While it does have a $500 million budget, much of that cost is related to developing for more than just the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
“You know, developing on PC is a different animal than developing for consoles, and so we just want to make sure that we’re putting one foot in front of the other and getting it right, and that it’s of the highest possible quality,” said Hirshberg. “But obviously I see the same things about the natural fit.”
Hirshberg’s statement confirms a number of statements coming from Bungie and Activision in the last year. In April, design lead Lars Bakken and COO Peter Parsons told Eurogamer that releasing the game on PC isn’t as easy as it sounds. At the time, they said that the company’s main focus was releasing on consoles, but there would be “future conversations” about a PC release.
Lead writer and community manager Eric Osborne also recognized the connection and consumer desire for a PC version when he spoke to IGN in October 2013. Like Hirshberg, he said that development for PC could take away from the development of the game on consoles.
“It’s a huge challenge to ship four platforms and a massive opportunity to reach a new audience,” said Osborne. “We know there are a lot of people out there asking for [a desktop version] and we know that there are a lot of gamers that would willingly give us money, but what we have to do is make sure we’re focused enough to bring a good experience to any platform that we ship on.”
Destiny is set for a September 9 release on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. The game is currently in alpha testing.
