The proof is in the facts: Destiny is one of the most successful games of the past 12 months. Upon release, Destiny made $325 million in just five days, which set a record for a new game franchise. Platform holder Sony was also pretty chuffed with its sales performance as the game helped the PS4 achieve its biggest selling week of 2014. And, although critics were divided about the game (some reviews criticized its story), Destiny also went on to win Best Score/Soundtrack and Best Online Experience at the The Game Awards 2014.

So with all of those impressive statistics and awards adorned on Bungie’s mantelpiece, it should come as little surprise that Destiny‘s players have invested a massive amount of time into the game too. In Activision’s latest investor call, the game’s publisher revealed that Destiny players have logged more than 2 billion hours in the game.

With the game having about 20 million players across PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, that amounts to around 100 hours per player. It should be noted that earlier this year, it was estimated that Destiny players play the game (on average) for three hours each day.

Destiny Triumph Rewards Detail

While this would be good news for any games company – as players are clearly enjoying all that Destiny has to offer – this is especially great news for Activision. With Call of Duty‘s sales steadily slowing down and with World of Warcraft also having lost 1.5 million subscribers in the past few months, Destiny could very well replace those titles as the publisher’s leading cash cow. The investment from Destiny‘s players also bodes well for the sales of The Taken King, the game’s huge upcoming expansion, as players will certainly enjoy the fresh batch of content.

However, that two billion figure could also pose a problem. Activision and Bungie have previously revealed that they are already working on Destiny 2 and while it’s unclear when the sequel will be released (or even when fans will get a first glimpse of it), there’s the risk that between now and then, current Destiny players will become fatigued.

Expansions can reinvigorate the player base (The Taken King even includes a new leveling up system) as can the various, extreme ways of beating raids, but it will be interesting to see how many more Destiny players stick around for the next few billion hours of play time.

How do you think Activision and Bungie can keep Destiny players invested? What would you like to see from the game next?