Trademark Filing Links Bungie To Long-Rumored "Destiny" MMO Shooter

Since the Bungie split with Microsoft and entered into a partnership with Activision, speculation has run high surrounding what the developer might be doing next. So far, most of the scuttlebutt has centered around a rumored MMO-style shooter project.

First, an ex-Bungie employee said the company was working on a project called "Destiny" that was described as "World of Warcraft in space." Then, at GDC, Bungie lead network engineer David Aldridge confirmed that the next project was an MMO action game, though he disputed that it could be compared to WoW. However, Bungie soon came back and claimed that he was only joking, which frankly seemed a bit far fetched.

Now we have what appears to be the first real link between Bungie and the so-called "Destiny Project." The website Halo.Bungie.Org broke the news when they discovered a trademark filing for a game called Destiny for the company Podophobia Entertainment. Now you may not of heard of Podophobia, and for good reason. It appears to be nothing more than a shell corporation for Bungie. The company was set up by Bungie founder and Harold Ryan and composer Martin O'Donnell. Podophobia's address is the same Kirkland, Wash., address that was once Bungie's headquarters.

The trademark says Destiny is ""computer game software downloadable from a global computer network." The company also trademarked the phrase "Be Brave," which might be the new game's slogan.

To add one more piece of evidence, a NeoGAF poster pointed out that the symbol that a symbol that appeared in the Destiny filing was the same as one seen on the shirt of a Bungie employee who appeared in a recent Penny Arcade video.

Logo from trademark filing:

Logo on Bungie t-shirt (see shoulder):

[Via: Gamespot]