Michael Hogan

Engineer on @playOverwatch, ex Vicarious Visions. Comments and likes are my own and do not reflect VV/Activision/Blizzard. he/him

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@kemar74 A Very Malazan Morning. I'd love to grab a print of inside Dragnipur if you ever start that back up.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@Sitaart I'm a big fan of a vegan sweet potato stir fry with peanut sauce my wife makes. Usually throw some air fried tofu in it, too. The sauce I _think_ is a mix of peanut butter, tamari, lime juice, and ginger. Sweetened with maple syrup. I can double check if that tickles your fancy.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@JordanSVP Yo an Exalt Orb?!

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@Mercules904

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@iihavetoes @quazapacked The Dark Souls of Froglikes

[Biwald @JosephBiwald]

Destiny 2 left a permanent mark on my life.

The memories I’ve made with this game, both as a player and as someone lucky enough to work on it, will forever stay with me. Not just because of late nights running King’s Fall with friends, or grinding out the Crucible Glorious Seal in solo queue like a complete maniac, but because Destiny 2 challenged me, shaped me, and pushed me toward becoming the creative I am today.

My journey into digital art and photography started back in 2007, when I began taking screenshots in Halo 3 and entering @Bungie community art contests. The relationships I built during that time eventually opened the door to an opportunity with Bungie’s Gameplay Capture team in 2014, helping the team capture footage for a new game called Destiny. I had no idea then that a commendably short two-week contract would turn into an incredible 12-year journey with this franchise.

I originally came to Bungie hoping to pursue environmental concept art, but along the way I had the opportunity to work on marketing art and quickly fell in love with it. Creating marketing art for a franchise like Destiny challenged me in so many different ways. It forced me to expand my technical, creative, and communication skill sets, constantly adapt, and keep learning new tools and workflows just to keep pace with the live-service beast that was Destiny 2. 

It means a lot to be able to look back and say with confidence that I had a visual impact on @DestinyTheGame; but the most meaningful part of it all was getting to work alongside and learn from so many incredible artists at Bungie, and seeing firsthand just how much care, effort, and humanity it takes to make work like this possible. It’s hard to fully capture how much energy, skill, and collaboration goes into every visual part of a game like Destiny 2. That work is shaped by artists from different backgrounds, experiences, disciplines, and perspectives. Each of them, including me, left a small part of themselves in what they created. To me, that’s what makes a game like Destiny 2 feel truly meaningful and memorable.

Especially now, in a world increasingly saturated with content and driven by instant output and gratification through AI, I keep coming back to the value of process. For me, and for so many of my peers, it was never only about arriving at the final image. It was about the journey it took to get there. The late nights. The iteration. The problem-solving. The trust. The shared pursuit of trying to make something special.

To my peers, I’m deeply proud of what we built together, but even more grateful for how we built it. We challenged each other, inspired each other, and kept showing up for one another through every high and low, as Destiny 2 has had many. That kind of shared effort leaves a lasting mark. What we made mattered. What we gave mattered. And the impact of what we built together will stay with us, and this community, for a long time.

Shoutout to the current and former members of Creative Studios, the VizD team, and the many Bungie developers and marketers who helped shape this chapter of my life. I’m especially grateful to the teammates who believed in me, encouraged me to embrace failure and new beginnings as essential parts of artistic growth, and pushed me to take on challenges even when they felt beyond my reach. You showed me that the strength of a team will always surpass that of any individual hero.

As my work on #Destiny2 comes to a close and I look toward the future, I plan to spend the next few weeks sharing some of the pieces I had the chance to create or art direct that mean the most to me. 

For now, I’ll leave you all with a collage of some of my personal favorite pieces to work on across Destiny 2’s lifetime. These projects mean so much to me because many of them started as personal passion projects or late-night concept sketches, inspired by playing early builds of Destiny 2 and by the incredible work of our development team.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@__KINGKRAKEN__ I think it was already in the works - it was just in the planning stages with folk smarter than myself. Still, I'm proud to have jumped on the project from the get-go.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

I will never forget asking VV's studio head if we could take on bringing Destiny 2 to PC in a company meeting. I learned so much fundamental about game development on D2PC, and I'm so proud that I was able to contribute, make mistakes, and learn. Guardians make their own fate.

[Destiny 2 @DestinyTheGame]

Read the full blog at https://t.co/1PmLuyR3aD

For almost twelve years, we have had the joy and honor to explore the Destiny universe with you all. Through all the ups and downs, surprises and triumphs, building Destiny alongside our players has been a monumental privilege. While our love for Destiny 2 has not changed, it has become clear that after The Final Shape, we have reached the time for our shared worlds, and Destiny, to live beyond Destiny 2.

As our focus turns towards a new beginning for Bungie, we will begin work incubating our next games. To that end, on June 9, 2026, we will release the final live-service content update for Destiny 2 to begin that new journey as a studio.

Though active development may be concluding, we will ensure that Destiny 2 remains playable, just as the original Destiny is today. Many changes in this final update will aim to ensure that Destiny 2 is a welcoming place for players to return to.

We’re proud of Destiny 2, the places it took us, and the legacy it has created. Because of you all, our universe is vast, built on years of shared stories, adventures, and victories. From the Cosmodrome to the Pale Heart to the Lawless Frontier, we have forged life-long memories and friendships with you all.

We are incredibly grateful to everyone who made that journey with us.

From the deepest part of our hearts, thank you, and we'll see you in the stars.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@Yoo_Rj To be clear, I'm pretty sure that was _already_ the plan. But of course, I didn't know that at the time.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@timothydclark Bringing Destiny 2 to PC was one of the most intense projects I've had the pleasure of working on. I'm still insanely proud how it ended up being such _the_ flagship platform for the community. Crazy to see it off like this.
It feels like the Destiny 2 Reveal Event was last year.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@nickmeisenhaus YESSS

[Marc Simonetti @kemar74]

"“Do not seek to find hope among your leaders. They are the repositories of poison. Their interest in you extends only so far as their ability to control you. .. They seek followers, and woe to those who question, or voice challenge." S. Erikson

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@JordanSVP Boomers figuring out how to generate terrible AI slop is the worst thing that has happened to this once prestigious holiday.

Local government departments posting ChatGPT garbage makes me want to die.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@matthewggilliam Best deals I've seen lately for prebuilts have been MicroCenter. If you don't have one around, maybe see what's popping on r/prebuilt reddit

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@matthewggilliam It's a rough year for getting gaming PC parts; I know some folks have had luck finding older GPUs and CPUs for clearance in-person at Best Buy/Walmart.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like prices are heading back down (ever?) so perhaps the best time to buy is now.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@JordanSVP It just reminded me enough of the meme to conjure a shitpost.

[Marc Simonetti @kemar74]

“No tyrant could thrive where every subject said no. The tyrant thrives when the first fucking fool salutes.”
― Steven Erikson, Toll the Hounds

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@GriffinWB @PlayOverwatch We did it, Reddit.

[Michael Hogan @TheXethik]

@andyTHPS @twisted_pixel @SanzaruGames Shit man, hate to hear it. I'll keep my ears open for design roles.