Destiny 2: PC vs. Consoles
Twinfinite: I want to get into Destiny 2 on PC. At the event I got to try out the Strike on PC, and right now I got to try out the story. It’s buttery smooth. When you guys finally decided, you know what, we’re ready to tackle the PC platform, what was the first, most essential factor that you felt you needed for Destiny on PC?
Shaw: You know, it might be hard to pick one. Going back a little bit, we heard the clamoring for PC before Destiny 1 launched and all through up until we announced Destiny 2, and the reason we didn’t do it previously was that because we wanted to be sure that when we did it, we did it right. And, you know, we launched on four platforms with Destiny 1, which we had never done before. We’d been one game, one platform, you know, for so long. And so, by the time we got to Destiny 2 we figured, we made a plan, we got the team, we got the talent, we partnered with Vicarious Visions, who are an amazing partner, and we’d been working together to finally bring the game to PC, and we’re going to bring it right. When we did that, part getting it right was what are the things that need to be there?
We didn’t want anybody to think about it as a PC port, or as a console port to PC. That’s not the game we’re building. We want them to see it as a legitimate, rock solid PC shooter that still feels like Destiny. And so we had these two things that we focused on. One is what’s the set of things that PC gamers always expect? Everybody has their pet thing like “oh, FOV has to go to 140 or screw you,” right? Everybody has that pet thing, right?
How can we honor those things? So we did things like 4K support, uncapped framerate, mouse and keyboard support that feels great.
Twinfinite: It truly does. I suck with a keyboard and mouse, but I still played and I was just like “this works.”
Shaw: So far we’re pretty happy about it, we’re eager to hear feedback, but we’re pretty proud of it. We’ve added things like you can remap controls fully on the keyboard. We wanna do all these things that players, that really the true PC gamers really want. We went and added some things like that. We didn’t just do the bare bones, the bare minimum. You know, we added 21:9 monitor support because we actually think that those monitors are super sexy and the game looks fantastic on them [laughs], and so we’re trying to do the things that PC players expect and then a few things that are unexpected.
Twinfinite: Are there any of those things you can speak about? The unexpected things?
Shaw: I mean, the 21:9 monitor support like we mentioned before. Launching with Blizzard, we think that was pretty exciting for folks. When we ship with Blizzard, we’ll have full integration with a lot of their things. Like the text chat, we’ll be using that, we’ll be fully integrated with that. FOV is not in the build that you played, but we will have an FOV slider in there. Whether or not it will go to 140 you’ll have to wait and see [laughs].
Twinfinite: Speaking of those features, those customization options when it comes to game settings, how much freedom are you willing to give players to fine-tune their experience on PC?
Shaw: So I don’t know if you looked in the build the first time you played it, but the settings screen, we made a bespoke [custom] settings screen that’s only on PC with all of those knobs and dials so you can dial all your stuff way up and say: I wanna focus purely on visuals, or you can dial it down a bit and say: I just wanna focus on framerate. We got a whole bunch of different stuff in the build that’s here at the event that is most of the knobs and dials that are available, FOV is not in there. This is an earlier build, but we wanted to get them in there so people can see them and be like “oh shit, there’s already a lot here, this is probably enough, maybe there’ll be a few more?” [laughs] But we think that folks will be pretty happy with the availability of options.
Twinfinite: Those options on PC, was there ever any thought of maybe giving some of those options to console players on like the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X now or in the future?
Shaw: I think the expectation of console players is just different. We’ve had a great experience with the set of options that we have on consoles today, we’ve added some over time. Like we threw some stuff [in], we added color blind support, we’ve added some other things into the game, but we think our console players are fairly happy with the options that are there.
The reason the two are pretty different on PC and console is that you got that consistent hardware [on console] and so we feel we can give a really great experience without having to have like an embarrassment of riches, too many choices. And we get the fact that people like choices, but our goal is to provide a great experience no matter what platform you’re on and we think that PC is a great place to play and consoles are a great way to play, and we believe the best place to play is where your friends are.
Twinfinite: Sticking on console, with the advent of the PS4 Pro which came out at the end of last year and the recently unveiled Xbox One X that’s due out this November, are those platforms that, maybe not in a menu, but will you try to take advantage of in some form or fashion?
Shaw: Yeah, we do. Like the PS4 Pro is out there, the consoles we have running on the floor both here and at the Sony booth, they are PS4 Pros and those are 4K monitors, so we’re running at 4K on the PS4 Pro today at the event, so we’re absolutely taking advantage of that.
Twinfinite: So will that be the same on the Xbox One X most likely?
Shaw: We don’t have anything to announce on that, I mean Microsoft just literally two days ago spilled the beans on that [laughs].
Destiny 2: Rapid Fire Questions
Twinfinite: During a recent stream, you guys had the Big Show and you guys gave him a very pretty gun. Can you tell us about that gun?
Shaw: [laugh] Okay, so I know the name of it, it’s called Coldheart.
Twinfinite: That sounds exotic to me.
Shaw: It is an exotic.
Twinfinite: It looks like a heavy fusion.
Shaw: You’re going to have to wait and find out [chuckles].
Twinfinite: Any idea how long we have to wait, because I must admit that’s a beautiful gun.
Shaw: It is a beautiful gun, but I gotta tell you though. The one that hits me right in the center of the chest is Sweet Business, the gatling gun.
Twinfinite: It just tears through things.
Shaw: Yeah I mean, ever since Terminator 2 with Schwarzenegger with it out of the bag, and Old Painless in Predator, miniguns are my jam, so that’s the one that gets me.
Twinfinite: Did Eris Morn’s rock get destroyed in the Tower?
Shaw: I don’t know. [chuckles]
Twinfinite: Is Mara Sov making a come back?
Shaw: No comment. [squints]
Twinfinite: How does Ikora Rey deal with Zavalla and Cayde-6 so well?
Shaw: Perseverance.
Twinfinite: Will we ever be able to beat up on Crota or his father again?
Shaw: TBD [chuckles]
Twinfinite: Are there any wizards scheduled to arrive from any other moons?
Shaw: Any wizards?
Twinfinite: Yes
Shaw: [Laughs… a lot] um… they haven’t told me.
Twinfinite: Who placed the large 2 in the sky?
Shaw: Oh, that was Luke Smith.
Twinfinite: I knew he was to blame. Does the Stranger finally have enough time to tell us why she doesn’t have enough time?
Shaw: Hmmm, you’ll have to wait and see.
Twinfinite: Will we get to punch Ghaul?
Shaw: [laughs] So Gary, Gary’s a big dude. I don’t know, we’ll have to see.
Twinfinite: [laughs] Thank you very much for your time, it’s been a pleasure talking to you, I look forward to hearing more
Shaw: Right on, I look forward to being able to say more.
