How Destiny learned from its mistakes to redefine the first-person shooter

The success of Halo saw Bungie grow from small concern to household name. Two years after release, the Destiny franchise looks set to take its developer to new heights

The first public hint that Bungie was working on a new game - a new franchise - to follow its astonishing run of success with Halo, the iconic first person shooter, came in the form of an easter egg in its penultimate entry in that series, Halo 3: ODST.

It was 2009. At that point, development on the new game had barely started. The earliest work was concept art, ideas for characters and weapons showing a fusion of high fantasy swords-and-sorcery and post-Halo space opera. But Bungie already had a name, and a setting. It was enough for the teaser image, which showed the earth, flanked by an artificial moon. The caption: "Destiny awaits."