Okay, this is just a theory and as such I will not be stating anything as fake unless it is. Fact: Destiny was advertised as a much different game. That is not in question, I don't think anyone can dispute that. From all we saw before launch, there were a whole lot of story and elements of the game that aren't in the copy that we all bought. Fact: Joe Staten quit/left Bungie in Jan to move back to Microsoft. Joe was the creative brain behind Halo and most of the sequels. This must have been a huge issue for Bungie, but I will go back to that in a mo. Fact: Deej never gives anyone a straight answer to nearly anything about Destiny. We can all read his responses and all of them are PR rubbish and never really answer anything. Now this brings me to the "theory" part of this post. Joe Staten had written a great story for Destiny, with plot twists and epic cinematics. This story was so good that Bungie felt so good about it they even showed some of it off, when we saw the Queens brother pointing a gun at you. Joe's story gave Bungie so much confidence they would on occasion drop info about Destiny, that they believed [u]would[/u] be in the game. • Trading • Customisable Armour • Gambling These were the main ones, but I'm sure there were others. Bungie honestly thought they were going to make their best game. That was until Joe left, apparently taking his story with him. Bungie now were in trouble, their game was due in under a year and they had to hit Activisions deadline. Knowing this they panicked, cutting any nonessential content. Pretty much all the things that would make Destiny epic. Having to rewrite a story and hoping that no one noticed, but we all did. Now we have what they could do in a few short months, which if they said was the case I think a lot of fans would appreciate it. However why haven't they came out and said this, if this is the case. No one would hold it against them, most would understand. I believe the reason they don't is a simple one, Joe Staten. Joe left taking his epic story to Microsoft studio. If Bungie admit this, just imagine how many gamers would be excited about his next game. Microsoft studio would get so much free publicity for there next game it would upset Sony tremendously. Let's not forget Bungie signed a big money deal with Sony, just imagine the embarrassment. Also this would be a great reason why Deej never says anything about what happened to the game, because he can't. This is all about Bungie and Sony saving face and not giving Microsoft the win. I know it might sound odd, that this is all about not giving Microsoft free publicity. However if you look at the evidence you can see it kind of makes sense. Joe Staten's next game will be huge, but just imagine if it was billed as "what Destiny should have been". The sells would be through the roof. Sony don't want that and who can blame, it would be bad for business. Think how quick Destiny 2 has started being built, that's a good indication that Bungie know there are huge issues with their game. Why weren't they picked up before launch? Because they were but they had no more time and it's easier to start from the beginning then modify what destiny is now. I know Bungie won't admit this to be the case, but it does make sense. I know that some of you will question whether Joe would be able to take his story with him. The answer is not very clear, but what I can say is. When Bungie left Microsoft the had to leave behind Halo, Joe's baby if you will. Joe probably hated this and put it in his contract that any creative work he did was his, not the company's. That would of been fine if he stayed, but he didn't. Leaving Bungie with a choice, buy the story off Joe and give him a share of the company's profits of all games linked to Destiny or let him leave with his story. Bungie seem to have choose the latter. Leaving them in a stronger financial footing for the future, but damaging there first game alway from Microsoft. Even if it's not about Joe having rights to the story that he wrote, Sony and Bungie wouldn't want there flagship game being credited to a Microsoft man. All it would do is make people clamour for anything that he did. That would be terrible for Sony, so Bungie to keep there deal probably had to remove the story that Joe worked on. So maybe we shouldn't be blaming Bungie, but Sony. There need to make sure Microsoft received no publicity for Destiny cost us, big time. So in the end it's all about money for Bungie and Sony wanting to stay the market leader.