Destiny 2is so much more than just a big, popular video game.Destiny 2is more importantly a community of thousands upon thousands of players, diverse as the cities and countries from which they game. It can’t be expressed how much a game likeDestiny 2means to those players and their community, but at the heart of it are the game developers that dedicate their working lives to building and growing the experience. It’s only fitting that those developers are honored, particularly in memoriam.
In the latest issue of This Week at Bungie, the studio confirms the 2019 passing of Matt Helsom. Helsom worked onDestiny 2as part of the team atVicarious Visions, which partnered with Bungie on variousDestiny 2projects. Helsom’s work included both 2D and 3D art in his role as a Senior Artist at Vicarious Visions since 2012. In memory of his work, as well as the impact Helsom had at Bungie, Vicarious Visions, and throughout theDestiny 2community, Bungie’s planning on something special.
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Starting next week, Bungie is planning to add a unique mission toDestiny 2. With the weekly reset, players will receive a message through the game’s director that leads them to Mars. What follows will be a short quest designed to honor Helsom. This mission will stand in tribute to Helsom and will welcomeDestiny 2’s communityinto the process, allowing players to celebrate Helsom along with his co-workers.
Alongside the announcement,Bungiealso offered a heartwarming statement, saying, “We wish all of [Helsom’s] family, friends, and everyone he impacted during his life the very best. Thank you to everyone in the community who joins us in remembering his warm soul.” Hopefully,Destiny 2players can take the time to play through next week’s mission in remembrance of Helsom.
It’s not uncommon for online game communities to come together in honor of fallen friends, though game studios doing something as large as adding playable content to a game is certainly much rarer. For example,Destinyclan Maetel Militiaput together a tribute video of all the things they accomplished in the game with a clanmate that had passed. Games that bring players together in such a way are quite rare.
It’s Bungie’s perpetualupdating ofDestiny 2that allows them to do things that other games can’t, but that’s only part of it. A lot of work goes into everything that’s added to Bungie. This mission involved teams of Bungie developers working together to build. It’s meaningful in many ways. And, of course, it’s really the least that could be done in memory of Matt Helsom and his contributions to a game that means so much to so many.
Destiny 2is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X support planned for the future.
