A few months ago, job listing started floating around for a Bungie project called Matter. Very little is known about the game so far, considering that Bungie hasn’t actually revealed anything about the game yet. Based on the job listing, though, curious Bungie fans can get a sense of what the studio is planning next, and it definitely doesn’t sound like another Destiny game. However, that might be just what Bungie needs right now. Even though its established itself as a sci-fi master with brooding, contemplative storylines, maybe Matter will see the studio to spreading its wings and trying something new.
RELATED: What the Destiny 2 Expansions Reveal Means for Bungie’s New IP Matter
What is Matter?
The job listing for Matter is pretty curious to behold knowing who’s putting it up. Perhaps the most striking thing about it is the tone for the game that the listing describes. Apparently Bungie wants to make Matter a cheery, light-hearted game that’s sure to cheer and amuse. That’s probably a little jarring for some fans, as it’s hard to imagine the makers of Destiny and Halo producing a game that can be described as whimsical. Aside from this new tone, there’s also apparently going to be a focus on melee weapons, rather than the gun-based FPS gameplay that Bungie has built a reputation on.
It isn’t entirely separate from its predecessors, though. It sounds like Bungie still wants Matter to follow some sort of live-service model, suggesting that the game will receive frequent updates and get constant support from the developers after its release. That should make Destiny 2 fans feel right at home. Ultimately, though, mention of necromancers and comedy make Matter sound like it’s going to be very different from Destiny. That’s not a weakness, though, that’s a strength. Bungie is doing itself a favor by trying something new.
RELATED: Destiny 2’s Beyond Light Exotics for Warlocks Are Disappointing
Learning New Tricks
Bungie might already be a pretty big company in spite of its limited roster of games, but it’ll struggle to get bigger if it spends its whole existence catering to Destiny players. In order to grow and improve, Bungie needs to experiment with new ideas. In that sense, Matter sounds like just the right thing for Bungie to learn from. Veteran talent and expertise are best applied to new challenges, not to the same game models over and over again. Frankly, fans might get exhausted if everything Bungie makes turns out to be a Destiny game. In fact, something like Matter might even bring back former Bungie lovers that didn’t get into Destiny.
It sounds like it’ll be several years before Matter actually releases. Bungie just started hiring for it this summer, and in a previous statement Bungie said it’s aiming to release a non-Destiny game not in a year or two but by 2025. That’s a good thing too. That means that Bungie isn’t pressuring itself to make this experiment work as soon as possible. It’s better that Bungie wants to take it slow and makes sure that Matter is a quality game and a good learning experience for the studio. Matter can give Bungie the expertise it needs to become the multi-franchise studio that it dreams of being. For now, though, fans will have to be patient to see how Matter shakes out.
MORE: Destiny 2’s Festival of the Lost Has Come a Long Way Since 2015
