Destiny formed a global community, one that came together to celebrate the game and aid in humanitarian causes. The Gaming Community Expo began life originally as the fan-led DestinyCon (before then becoming GuardianCon, and finally landing on the GCX name and branding only a few years ago), an event meant to connect Destiny’s online communities and clans in person. Through both the GCX and the work that the playerbase does with the Bungie Foundation, Destiny’s audience has raised millions of dollars in support of institutions like the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
Even just looking through Bungie’s weekly updates—once known as This Week at Bungie, but since renamed This Week In Destiny—revealed a community that was constantly eager to use the game as a canvas to create even more art. Movie-of-the-week submissions regularly spotlighted creators making wonderful and odd machinima-like films and series within the confines of the game, and there was never a shortage of fan art centered on the series’ beloved characters, locales, and of course, incredible loot.
Though it is now ending, 12 years is a long run for anything, especially a live-service game, to entertain and accomplish even half of the things that Destiny accomplished. I don’t know about you, but little of that sounds anything like a failure to me. In so many ways that count more than the longevity of a product, Destiny soared. So even though all things do and must end, Destiny‘s end is far from failure. It’s one of gaming’s most profound successes. Long may it live.