Bungie’s replacement for the much-loved app is a major misstep
Destiny 2 has been out for just under a week on consoles, and players seem to be loving it. It’s already surpassed 1 million concurrent players, with a third of its audience not even in on the action yet (Destiny 2 releases October 24th). I’ve had all good things to say about it with my time so far. Overall, it looks like Bungie has really done a great job rebuilding their relationship with the community.
Oh, except they ruined the Companion App.
Something no Destiny player could knock about their experience with the first game was its fantastic Companion App, which provided an embarrassment of play stats, activity progress, inventory access, lore, and a ton more. I could tell you how many hours I spent on one character in Patrols, when I last went on one, and how long I went without dying. Things like a player’s K/D ratio were broken down by mode, map, and over time. Favored guns, accuracy, lifetime kills, everything was tracked and available. Bungie did a remarkable job tracking and curating that data for players, and opening their API to anybody interested in incorporating the wealth of stats for their own third-party apps and sites.
The new Companion App does none of that. Instead, it features News and Updates, Clan Chat, and Armory, and a Recruitment board. That’s not to say any of these sections are bad in their own right — and it’s probably more than most games of its sort get from their developers — but it’s so much less than what we already had. Needless to say, player’s aren’t happy about it.
Above is an unedited look at the app’s most recent reviews on iTunes. Most of them are just one star. There are two five-star reviews, however, which feature some really valuable comments like, “add more stats please,” and “Destiny 2 is awesome stop hating.”
The app isn’t doing great on Google Play either, with all of its latest reviews being generally negative.
If you haven’t already figured out why this app has a 4.3 overall rating and over 141 thousand five-star reviews, that’s because this new Companion App actually replaced the old Companion App for the previous game. Which means that, not only does this new app not measure up to its predecessor in the slightest, it also wipes the beloved old one from existence.
To Bungie’s credit (whatever credit that might be), they’ve confirmed that they’ll continue supporting the API for the original Destiny for those making third-party apps, but that’s just not a satisfying answer. There weren’t a lot of third-party alternatives for the first game because the official app was so good. At this point, there’s little reason for anybody to make one for those players, as they’ll most likely be moving over to Destiny 2. It might sound like a good time for those developers to begin work on their own companion apps for Destiny 2 instead, but it’s not looking like Bungie is going to be as generous with its API this time around.
I won’t say it’s all bad with this new app — it’s just not what players needed or wanted. The Armory is functionally the same as it was previously, with a few notable improvements. Clan Chat is nice to have, though most will migrate over to Discord immediately. Recruitment is a good idea, but it’s less developed than established fan-made LFG sites, which really takes the wind out of its sails. Ultimately, Bungie leaves its community with no app for Destiny, a bad app for Destiny 2, and no tools to let us do it ourselves. Come on, guys.
But hey, at least this is pretty cool:
