Activision not worried about Destiny competing with Call of Duty

Bungie's Destiny will feel familiar enough to fans of the studio's previous work with the Halo series, but is unique enough to be able to "peacefully coexist" with Call of Duty, said Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg in an interview with IGN.

"There are certain mechanics in this industry that people want to be able to pick up and play and immediately be having fun with," Hirshberg told IGN. "At the end of the day, it's a first-person shooter by Bungie. Everyone who loved Halo is going to love Destiny."

Hirshberg went on to point out the ways in which Bungie is attempting to expand the first-person shooter genre. As demoed on stage during Sony's E3 press briefing, Destiny is a "shared-world shooter" in which players can take on enemies in small groups and later be joined seamlessly by other players.

Activision also publishes the industry's biggest first-person shooter franchise, Call of Duty, but Hirshberg isn't worried about any cannibalization from Destiny.

"They're very different games made by very different creative visionaries," Hirshberg said. "I think that they can peacefully coexist with one another.

"I think that what Call of Duty has done, it’s done better than anybody. [...] What Bungie has done, they have done better than anyone as well. The first-person shooter genre has shown tremendous staying power, as well as tremendous capacity in terms of the appetite people have for it."

Destiny is set for release in 2014 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. For more on the game, check out our in-depth feature from E3.