Let me state from the start that I don’t like fictional universe crossovers. Whether it’s a Magic The Gathering set themed around Doctor Who or riding a Chocobo in Assassin’s Creed Origins, if it involves smushing two entirely different universes together, I’m not into it. I feel the same way about melding worlds as I do fusion cuisine: Just because you can smush two independently great things together, very much does not mean that you should.
Which brings me to today, and Bungie’s livestreamed infosplosion detailing what to expect from the next year of expansions and updates in Destiny 2. The major news is covered in the link above, but the topic that everyone’s discussing in the aftermath is, weirdly, Star Wars.
Destiny has already dallied Lucasfilm, releasing a set of (paid, of course) Stormtrooper-themed armor skins alongside the Heresy episode. I could just about accept that, if I squinted and pretended I couldn’t see half a platoon of the Empire’s finest emoting in the tower, because Destiny has done gear crossovers with other games before.
God of War, The Witcher, and Assassin’s Creed (because Ubisoft really does love this stuff) have all appeared in Destiny 2 as paid armor skins, but those sets took inspiration from the source material, whereas the Star Wars stuff looks close to 1:1 copies. And as of today it got even crazier.
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If you pre-order the Destiny 2: Year of Prophecy Ultimate Edition (for a mere $99), you will immediately receive a basket of digital goodies, including a set of three Star Wars ‘Dark Side Legends’ skins, which will enable you to dress as eye-wateringly accurate facsimiles of Darth Vader, Kylo Ren, and General Grievous.
Yes, that Darth Vader. And no, I don’t think those Titan-style shoulder pads are working for him.
Now, before I open fire with a blaster under the table, a couple of caveats: 1) I have a Star Wars-loving clanmate who is more excited about this than any of the other announcements today, and could not care less about in-universe accuracy. 2) If I am being completely candid I did buy the Stormtrooper set, because I love creating Destiny fashion and the hoodless hunter cloak is superb.
It doesn’t so much feel like the thin end of a very commercial wedge as it does lobbing a brick through the art team’s window.
And look, if the Vader and Kylo outfits were all that was happening, I could probably make my peace with it. Just try to ignore the multiple Sith Lords in my raid group in the same way I’ve had to pretend those stupid mini sparrows weren’t a thing as part of my strict head canon. After all, Bungie desperately needs Destiny to keep making money, and these things clearly sell like Ewok cakes.
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What I can’t yet wrap my head around though, is that Bungie also announced that the December expansion, which is called Renegades, is going to be entirely themed around Star Wars. We’re talking lightsabers, blasters, speeders and a dusty planet that looks very much like Tatooine.
Now, let the record state that this doesn’t mean the action takes place literally in the Star Wars universe. This is still just billed as ‘inspired by’. But in terms of maintaining the integrity of Destiny’s own setting, it doesn’t so much feel like the thin end of a very commercial wedge as it does lobbing a brick through the art team’s window.
That’s what I think is making me feel so uneasy about all this: Destiny is a game, which over a decade and many thousands of hours, I have loved intensely, sometimes to a fault. And whatever you might think about the studio’s mistakes or failings in that time, the universe has always been brilliantly drawn, from iconic imagery like The Traveller hanging in low orbit over earth, to the brilliance of the Guardians being essentially warmongering zombies that the other races are terrified of. Hell, Destiny’s own alien factions—Hive, Fallen, Cabal—are interesting enough to warrant writing reams of lore about.
And now what, we’re just going to dump a bucket of George Lucas in there and call it good?
If this is the Faustian pact required to keep the lights on at Bungie I guess I’ll suck it up.
More than anything it feels disrespectful to what the studio itself has created. I imagine plenty of people inside Bungie have serious reservations about playing quite so fast and loose with their universe. But I guess it’s also a sign of how dire times must be if this kind of nuclear option is required to balance the books. Ultimately, the money men will have done the calculus and concluded that for every player Star Wars turns off, there will be more waiting to ring the register.
Ultimately I do get it. I might not be a Star Wars guy—beyond the original trilogy, Andor and maybe some of The Mandalorian I really can take it or leave it—but lightsabers are cool and if this is the Faustian pact required to keep the lights on at Bungie I guess I’ll suck it up.
Even my non-Destiny playing colleagues have been rolling their eyes in disbelief at this collab, calling it another step in the Fortnitification of all service games. And I get that too. But if you were hoping that this would be the straw that broke the chocobo’s back, and I would be dramatically abandoning the game, well, no chance.
I’ve long made my peace that I will be there on the last day as the servers go dark. Just don’t expect me to be wearing Han Solo’s trousers.
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