Amazon has tipped Destiny as the biggest game for Christmas this year, thanks to the keen enthusiasm of fans.
The online retail giant sells the full range of top AAA titles, but this year it’s putting its money on Destiny for the best-selling game this Christmas.
“Clearly Destiny is going to be huge. Our initial expectation was that it was going to be a fairly big title, but now we’re thinking it’s going to give GTA 5 a run for its money,” said Ketu Patel, Amazon UK Head of Video Games, speaking with TrustedReviews. “Well, maybe not quite as big as GTA 5, but I believe it will be the biggest title this year.”
Activision has set the Destiny release date for September 9, just weeks ahead of the launch of big name franchise titles such as Battlefield: Hardline.
However, developer Bungie has a strong legacy behind it, since it has been behind the exclusive Xbox Halo series. Destiny is the first cross-platform new IP from Bungie and it seems to be proving popular with console gamers.
“Obviously you’ve got the normal franchises – Call of Duty etc – they’ll all be big this year, FIFA 15 will be as big as normal. It’s really exciting to look forward to. But Destiny seems to be the one that’s really picking up in terms of pre-orders. There’s a lot of interest, a lot of consumer interest and a lot of excitement.”
There could be a slight spike in pre-orders though thanks to the beta access codes offered to gamers who lock down a purchase of the game ahead of its release.
“You’ve got the beta access coming out tomorrow for the PS4, so that may have front-loaded the pre-orders, we’re not sure, in advance of the beta access. It will be interesting to see if post-beta there’s the same momentum or not.”
The Destiny beta starts July 17 for PS4 and PS3 gamers and will be available to those on Xbox One and Xbox 360 from July 23.
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