It's no secret that Destiny has had more than its fair share of very vocal critics. It's a game that promised a great deal, and many would argue that it didn't fulfil everything it set out to do — but that doesn't seem to have prevented the title from growing a large and passionate player base.

As part of an earnings call earlier this week, Destiny publisher Activision stated that there are 50 million registered users split between the game and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. Since then, Blizzard announced that Hearthstone alone has reached the 30 million mark.

That leaves Destiny with at least 20 million players, which is no small feat for a game that's been criticized for a lack of content. What's more, 4 million of that number have picked up the game over the last three months, as Bungie reported 16 million players back in February.

Back then, it was stated that the average daily play time for a Guardian was three hours, and that figure has been reiterated in this new data. The most impressive fact behind that statistic is that no new content has been released in the interim.

There certainly seems to be something about Destiny that continues to attract players, and that continual growth has to be reassuring for both fans and its developers. It's been clear since release that the game has the potential to grow into the experience that was promised — it's just going to take some time.

A steady stream of new players will make sure that there's ample time to do this. A big-budget title like Destiny represents a significant investment for those involved with making it, but multi-million player counts that can be referenced in earnings calls will contribute to appeasing the money men behind the title.

New players joining the game have plenty to look forward to. Later this month, the House of Wolves expansion will add a bevy of new content to the game, including new co-operative game mode Trials of Osiris, new story missions and several extra Crucible maps.

Looking even further in the future, the fact that multiple new Raids are reportedly in development should suggest that there's plenty in the works beyond the release schedule we already know about. With a growing player base and plenty of new content on its way, Destiny looks set to endure beyond its shaky start.

Destiny is available now for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Source: IGN