'Destiny' Beta Release: Analysts Predict Game Will Be Top Seller This Holiday Season

Bungie’s “Destiny” will launch this September for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360, and some industry analysts predict the upcoming action role-playing shooter will be a top-selling title this holiday season.

According to New York City-based research firm the Cowen Group, predicted “Destiny” will sell between 10 million to 15 million copies. Cowen Group calculated the figures based on its own Ordometer, a formula that compares games' post-launch numbers to its pre-orders.

The Cowen also predicts “Halo: The Master Chief Collection” will top holiday wish lists, followed by “Assassin’s Creed: Unity.”

Cowen Group sales estimates

1. Destiny (Activision Blizzard)


2. Halo: The Master Chief Collection (Microsoft)


3. Assassin’s Creed Unity (Ubisoft)


4. Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Activision Blizzard)


5. Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft)


6. Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two)


7. Dragon Age: Inquisition (EA)


8. Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition (Activision Blizzard)


9. Forza Horizon 2 (Microsoft)


10. Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor (WB Games)


“Destiny’s” alpha ran last month from June 12-16. Bellevue, Washington-based Bungie reported that more than 6 million games were played during the test, which was extended several hours the day of its close.

“Putting our Alpha out there lit a new kind of fire here at Bungie. It feels like we’ve been reborn. Putting alpha code out in the wild is always a risk; that build is ancient by our standards, riddled with content and bugs we’d never allow through to ship,” Bungie said on its blog June 20. “In many cases, the really rough and jagged edges had been hammered smooth long ago, making it all the more difficult to see them discovered, but in just as many others, there’s still work to do, and the only way to get it done is to let you touch down in our world to tear the place wide open.”

“Destiny” will take place 700 years in the future in a post-apocalyptic setting after a lucrative and successful period of exploration and peace called the Golden Age. The game is set in a universe where humans have colonized a number of livable planets in the solar system. But a disastrous event known as “the Collapse” saw the mysterious destruction of these colonies, leaving mankind nearly extinct. When humans attempt to repopulate and recover after the Collapse, aggressive and dangerous alien races are discovered in various towns and cities. Players will have the task of investigating and destroying the aliens before the human race is wiped out.