The Destiny franchise has been massively successful since the release of the first game back in 2014, but for almost as long as the series has been around, it has been accompanied by rumors of so-called "Destiny Killer" games. These are titles like Outriders, Anthem, and even Borderlands 3, which, in the run-up to each of their respective releases, were each touted as the next big looter shooter that would finally dethrone Destiny 2 from its position at the top. Regardless, Destiny 2 has managed to weather the storm of some fairly fierce competition and maintains an impressive level of popularity even 4 years out from its release.
With Bungie's 30th Anniversary Pack update that just launch, Destiny 2 has spiked from its recent average of around 40,000 active players to well over 100,000 players. For perspective, that puts Destiny 2 in the company of games like Halo Infinite, New World, DOTA 2, and CS: GO at the top of the most played games currently on Steam. In short, Destiny 2 is still popular, which may leave fans and detractors alike wondering exactly what happened to the supposed "Destiny Killers".
Warframe
It's almost strange to call Warframe a "Destiny Killer" game since the title actually predates both games in the Destiny franchise, but a long, arduous road to popularity has meant that Warframe's periods of success have more or less coincided with Destiny's. Still, unlike most games that are drawn into competition with the Destiny franchise, Warframe has fared incredibly well, mostly owing to Digital Extremes' absurd live-service record. With each update, Warframe continues to prove itself capable of pulling in fresh blood while keeping its inveterate player base satisfied.
Oddly enough, Warframe is also the most visually similar to Destiny 2 in terms of setting and character design, and it's even a very grind-heavy game as well, but the progression system is just different enough that it manages to set itself aside from Destiny 2. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two titles actually share their fanbase, and there is a good chunk of players that frequently enjoy both Destiny 2 and Warframe. Since its launch, Warframe has managed a steady growth, and some months even sit at about par with Destiny 2. With its latest planned expansion, The New War, set to release in a week, it's only primed to continue its upward trajectory.
Outriders
While Outriders isn't necessarily a total failure, it certainly ranks as one of the most disappointing games of 2021, mostly owing to a disastrous launch. In the lead-up to its release, Outriders was perceived as a potential threat to Destiny 2's popularity because of their similarities. For what it's worth, before it was released, Outriders was probably in the best possible position of any of the "Destiny Killers" to actually get the job done. In February, when the Outriders demo dropped, Destiny 2's fanbase was in a fairly precarious state and the game was hemorrhaging players from a lack of meaningful updates and content additions. Unfortunately for Outriders, on the same week that its demo dropped - which could have been the final nail in the coffin for Destiny 2 - Bungie unveiled one of its biggest weekly briefings to date.
This small moment in February gave a taste of things to come, and by the time Outriders launched in April, the battle was already basically over. While the initial hype of Outriders meant that it still enjoyed a bit of success upon release, it has since seen that popularity dwindle away significantly. With the recent New Horizons update, Outriders has managed to pull itself back from the brink of defeat, but it is still miles off of Destiny 2.
Anthem
Anthem is a very similar story to Outriders. In the time leading up to its release, Anthem was the subject of huge amounts of hype, and, due to its striking visual similarities and looter shooter gameplay, was constantly compared to Destiny 2. Like Outriders, Anthem saw a bit of initial success that quickly evaporated. It had an innovative flying system that still leaves many fans believing Anthem deserves a second chance, but its repetitive nature and unpolished quality upon release ultimately led to its demise.
Sadly, Bioware initially had plans to completely revamp and redesign Anthem into what it coined "Anthem 2.0," but the project was scrapped, and Anthem 2.0 was canceled indefinitely. Unlike the other games on this list, Anthem will ultimately go down in most gamers' minds as a complete failure, with the cancellation of Anthem 2.0 being remembered as a lack of dedication to its fanbase who had stayed loyal through a shaky release.
The Division 2
The Division 2 probably shares the least with Destiny 2 in terms of setting, characters, weaponry, and the like. In place of Destiny's epic lore and space-fantasy aesthetic, players are instead dropped into post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C, and forced into realistic encounters. If comparisons were to be made purely on visual grounds, there would be almost none at all, but the looter shooter mechanics and grind-intensive gameplay are what encouraged players to label The Division 2 as yet another "Destiny Killer."
Unfortunately, The Divison 2 has suffered a fate that is familiar to the other games on this list. Ubisoft has been promising The Divison 2 players new updates since the start of this year, and just recently announced that it would be delaying updates for The Divison 2 until 2022. While The Division 2 has managed to maintain a decent population - a few thousand concurrent players on most days - it's likely not long before the aforementioned patch delays and a lack of attention to the game see the last of the loyal players heading for the doors.
Borderlands 3
The comparisons between the Borderlands franchise and Destiny are fairly clear. They're both set in their own unique blend of science and fantasy, and they're both grind-intensive looter shooters. The main difference is that Borderlands 3 is a more traditional game that has a distinct start and end goal, whereas Destiny 2 can be defined as an open-ended MMO. For this reason alone, the two titles manage to capture completely different audiences, with Borderlands 3 tending to attract players who enjoy a more typical linear progression and a story-heavy co-op experience.
Borderlands 3 is easily the most successful of any title to be labeled as a "Destiny Killer." Recently, 2K Games even revealed that Borderlands 3 is its fastest-selling game yet, surpassing its predecessor, Borderlands 2. It may not garner the sort of concurrent players that Destiny 2 does on Steam, but it has sold over 14 million copies across all consoles, making it a huge success for the company.
Destiny 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
