Mock press release for Destiny: Rising release date announcement

As part of learning about games PR, I put together a mock press release for the announcement of Destiny: Rising's release date. The goal of the project is to understand how to position the game and assess possible risks. I focused on the announcement and pre-launch period, as it puts the game on most people's radar.

Disclaimer: This is a mockup project and is unrelated to the official communication by NetEase Games. All media assets belong to NetEase, and it's noted where those have been modified for demonstration purposes.

Destiny: Rising is a mobile gacha looter-shooter released on Aug. 28, 2025, developed by NetEase Games and licensed by Bungie. It's also the first title outside the main Destiny series and franchise's introduction to mobile platforms.

The project's scope includes internal positioning and messaging, risk identification and mitigation, media targeting, press release, and supporting assets. It doesn't include the full PR campaign, influencer partnerships, and community management.

This project uses only information available before the official release date announcement to simulate a realistic PR environment and decision-making process.

The final list of deliverables for the mock press release project includes:

• Brief

• FAQ

• Media list

• Press release

• Media kit

Snippets of the deliverables are detailed below, with the full files available upon request.

Brief

The brief is an internal document that breaks down the key reasoning behind the press release, highlighting the key pillars and target audience. While those are likely to be defined by other departments, including marketing, I used my experience from the student marketing project to shape the brief. Most importantly, the brief outlines potential risks and comparisons.

In the case of Destiny: Rising, the main perception risks are:

• Monetization (with it being a gacha game)

• Quality (a mobile-first game)

• Licensing (the developer isn't Bungie)

• Publisher's background (NetEase skepticism).

Hence, the brief also outlines what the game is and what it is not to guide future communication.

What Destiny: Rising is:

• A Destiny game licensed by Bungie

• A new take on the Destiny universe set in an alternate timeline

• A mobile game that is playable on PC via the official emulator (MuMu Player)

What Destiny: Rising is NOT:

• Not a continuation of the main series (not a Destiny 3) or canon to the main series

• Not representative of the main series game design and post-launch roadmap

• Not a native PC/console game

FAQ

The FAQ builds on the risks and comparisons outlined in the brief. This document provides general answers to questions the media may ask and acts as an internal guide to addressing the public's concerns. It includes topics like monetization, licensing, and gameplay.

Here are several question examples from the FAQ list:

Q: Is Destiny: Rising a part of the main Destiny series?

A: Destiny: Rising isn’t a continuation of the main series, but a spin-off set in the alternate Destiny universe.

Q: Is Destiny: Rising a looter-shooter?

A: Destiny: Rising offers loot-driven progression with multiple weapons and perk combinations for players to chase across different activities.

Q: Does Destiny: Rising have raids or alternative endgame content, similar to the main series?

A: Destiny: Rising features six-player endgame activities across multiple difficulty tiers, including time-limited events for fireteams seeking high challenge and prestige.

Media list

The media list is a list of contacts used for outreach to secure coverage of the game. It includes media outlets and journalists covering adjacent games (Destiny 2, other looter-shooters, and gacha games), as well as content creators with a strong influence in the Destiny community.

The media list includes:

• 28 media emails (including general contact emails, individual writer emails, and emails for trailer submissions).

• 5 creator emails/contacts

Every entry on the list has a type (media or creator), target audience (general, Destiny, gacha, etc.), contact details (name, position), email, and a short description of how the contact is relevant to the game. For some outlets, the list includes a general contact email and an individual journalist's contact email.

Press release

The press release aligns with previous official communications in brand voice and format, as those have already been established. This also includes lede elements (e.g., NetEase mentioning the NASDAQ ticker symbol) and the boilerplate.

The press release highlights and expands the key features a Destiny player would be interested in.

For this announcement, those included:

• Release date

• How to play the game on PC

• Pre-registration rewards

• Key features

The key features highlighted in the press release emphasize the core elements of Destiny as a franchise: iconic characters, loot, endgame PvE, clans, and casual activities like Sparrow Racing. Those are elements that excite a Destiny player the most.

Destiny 2 is known for challenging endgame PvE that awards the best loot, and to do a lot of that endgame, players form clans and make friends to play together. At the same time, players have been asking for the return of Sparrow Racing for years now.

Media kit

The media kit compiles all the key information about the game and relevant assets. It serves as a go-to resource for journalists to find additional images and references for coverage apart from the press release.

The media kit includes:

• Description of the game, including the developer, genre, platforms, and release date

• Key features

• Social media links

• Contact emails

• Announcement trailers

• Key art with and without the logo

• Artwork with and without the logo

• Gameplay screenshots

• Logos and icons

• Developer's (and licensor's) descriptions

Disclaimer: An AI tool was used to remove the logo from some of the official images for demonstration purposes.

The primary goal is to provide a variety of high-resolution assets for journalists to use in coverage. Variety is the most important aspect, allowing outlets to differentiate themselves with different assets.

In this mock project, the assets include eight artwork images displaying characters, locations, activities, and loot. Every image is provided in two versions: with and without the logo. Then there are gameplay and UI screenshots to showcase the game's core features.

Reflection and takeaways

This project helped me better understand how to position the game before an announcement goes live. Positioning and risk awareness are by far the most important elements - any game is bound to be scrutinized, and the teams must be able to react.