Destiny 2 is collaborating with the Epic Games Store, including swapping some cosmetics with Fortnite and Fall Guys. This announcement leaked ahead of Bungie’s Destiny 2 showcase on Tuesday, and the community reaction was mixed. After all, Destiny 2, Fortnite, and Fall Guys aren’t similar games at all. But after seeing the collaborations in action, they make perfect sense. Destiny 2has seen a lot of changes over the past year, and although it’s still a far cry from Fortnite or Fall Guys, trading cosmetics fits right into where Bungie, Epic Games, and Sony are heading.
A tale of two games
The new skins come on the heels of Destiny 2 launching on the Epic Games Store, where Bungie is offering its 30th Anniversary content pack for free for the first week. Bungie says the collaboration is a celebration of the new launch, with three new skins each in Fortnite, Destiny 2, and on September 13, Fall Guys. Nothing is changing with any of these games; they’re just adding new cosmetics. Still, the community isn’t taking it that way. The friction with the Fortnite and Destiny 2 collaboration centers around how different the games are. The only common thread they share is that they’re both multiplayer shooters, but even then, the games are so different in style and structure that they can’t be compared.
That is why aspects of Fortnite coming into Destiny 2’s world is a shock. We’ve seen skins from games like Borderlands show up in Fortnite, but that collaboration usually doesn’t go the other way. Fortnite is known for bringing skins from other media in, including skins from everything from The Avengers to Dragon Ball Z. Still, we’ve never seen a Piñata Llama alongside Iron Man in Iron Man VR or the Battle Bus dropping Goku out in Dragon Ball FighterZ, completely breaking the world-building of those games. By crossing over with Fortnite, Bungie and its new parent company, Sony Interactive Entertainment, show how willing they are to play the modern live service game and respect deep company partnerships.
Destiny 2 is one of the architects of the modern live service games, alongside Fortnite. The two don’t share much DNA when it comes to gameplay, mechanics, story, or setting, but they’re both enabled by a vast catalog of cosmetics. By proverbially swapping spit, Fortnite and Destiny 2 can lift each other up without compromising the core systems that make each game unique. Getting Destiny 2 players excited about Fortnite and vice versa while keeping each experience intact is something that could only happen in the era of live service.
Part of the collaboration is to celebrate the Epic Games Store launch, but it’s important to remember that Sony acquired Bungie at the beginning of 2022. It’s impossible to say what goes on behind closed doors, but Sony has made it clear that it has had a good relationship with Epic Games over the past few years. Sony ports like Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War have launched on Steam and the Epic Games Store, but the vast majority of Sony’s third-party console exclusives have been locked to Epic’s platform for some time. Godfall, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Predator Hunting Grounds, and Genshin Impact have all seen at least a year of exclusivity on the Epic Games Store.
In addition, Sony invested $1 billion in Epic Games in April 2022, just a few short months after the company announced it would purchase Bungie for $3.6 billion. I seriously doubt Sony forced Bungie into this collaboration — Sony has said Bungie will operate independently — but the door was likely opened with the acquisition. It probably doesn’t have any implications for exclusivity, either. Destiny 2 is consistently one of the most popular Steam games, so Bungie probably won’t lock out that audience.
Although some players might be turned off by the new cosmetics, it’s a great way to welcome Destiny 2 to the Epic Games Store. And frankly, there are plenty of Destiny 2 players that also play Fortnite and Fall Guys. If they’re not your jam, that’s fine — don’t use the cosmetics. Don’t hound Bungie for that, though. Destiny 2 developers have been increasingly harassed over the past year for the most mundane things, and cosmetics are far from something to get upset about. After all, the idea that Destiny 2 and Fortnite would cross over at some point makes perfect sense.
