Destiny leak turned out to be a good thing, Bungie says

An information leak can be frustrating, even devastating, for any organization, but when Bungie's Destiny project was revealed in a leaked marketing document last November, the studio responded in a way that turned the leak to its advantage, reports Edge.

Bungie's chief operating officer, Pete Parsons, was "quivering" when he showed the leak to design director Joe Staten, according to Staten. But instead of sticking its head in the sand and acting like nothing had happened, Bungie acknowledged the leak and the existence of Destiny by posting concept art from the game on its official website.

Staten called the move "typical Bungie," saying, "We just took it in our stride and, instead of making it a negative, we turned it into a positive.

"We initiated a conversation with our fans, which we hadn't done in a really long time," Staten added. "And I think having done that, the great reaction that we got from it really made us all very excited internally. It motivated us."

Bungie will continue that conversation during a lecture at this year's Game Developers Conference featuring Staten and art director Christopher Barrett. The talk will focus on how Bungie is building the world of Destiny, a universe that will hold 10 years' worth of games and associated media from the studio and publisher Activision.

Polygon was recently invited to Bungie's Bellevue, Wash., headquarters for an exclusive day-long visit. We spoke with Staten, Parsons, award-winning audio director Marty O'Donnell, technology director Chris Butcher, studio manager Harold Ryan, Destiny sandbox designer Danny Bulla, Destiny interface designer Kevin McGinnis, community manager Eric Osborne, character animator Tom Sanocki, writer Eric Raab and more for exclusive, in-depth interviews on the culture of Bungie and the stress of following up Halo. You can read that feature this Thursday, Jan. 24, on Polygon.