What you need to know
- Bungie has hired Derick Tsai, who formerly worked at Riot Games as Animation Director for League of Legends shorts.
- Tsai has also worked with numerous other high-profile studios throughout his career.
- Tsai has been made Head of Development for Destiny Universe Transmedia, suggesting that Bungie is accelerating its efforts to take the Destiny franchise beyond video games.
- This news follows the recent report that Bungie is being acquired by Sony for $3.6b.
Bungie has officially hired Riot Games' Animation Director Derick Tsai, according to his Linkedin page. Tsai holds the position of Head of Development for Destiny Universe Transmedia at Bungie. Previously, Tsai has also worked with Obsidian Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Crystal Dynamics, Marvel Studios, Universal Pictures, and many other notable studios.
Tsai's Linkedin page states that he's "leading projects and telling stories that extend the Destiny IP into new mediums including Film, TV, Animation, Books, Comics, and Audio formats," indicating that Bungie is getting serious about expanding the Destiny franchise beyond video games. Bungie previously revealed its plans for "additional media" in early 2021, and with Tsai at the helm, the studio is looking to accelerate those plans.
It will be interesting to see what kinds of transmedia projects Bungie has in store, especially since novels, animated series', and other types of non-game media have proven to be very successful for franchises like Halo and League of Legends (Arcane, anyone?). As someone who frequently plays Destiny 2 myself, I would love to see its gorgeous environments and the awesome paracausal powers of the Light and Darkness translated to an animated show. Destiny novels or comics could help flesh out its universe, too.
We won't know exactly what to expect from Bungie until the studio publicly reveals some of these projects, but since Sony recently announced plans to acquire Bungie for $3.6b, the studio's transmedia efforts will surely be backed with resources from the company. Destiny fans will also have plenty of content to keep them busy while they wait to see what Bungie's future projects are, as the Destiny 2: The Witch Queen expansion is expected to release on Feb. 22, 2022 on all platforms (preorders are available now).
Take back the Light
The upcoming Witch Queen expansion features the sinister Savathûn and her brood of Light-wielding Hive, which will undoubtedly prove to be the most challenging foes faced by Guardians yet. Players can expect tons of new loot, enemies, locations, and more.
