In the end, significant rain did not come as expected, and Lewis Hamilton, who left it late to do his final lap, snuck ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc as the Ferraris locked out the third row in fifth and sixth places.
… %!s()
Red Bull's Max Verstappen starts his final home grand prix, with the Dutch race falling off the calendar after this season, from seventh place.
His stand-in team-mate Liam Lawson, replacing Frenchman Isack Hadjar who broke his wrist in the run-up to the race, was impressive in lapping just 0.0115secs slower than the Dutchman to take eighth place ahead of the Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls' British rookie Arvid Lindblad.
So high was the expectation of rain heading into the final session that the teams all raced to finish their two runs as quickly as possible.
Russell demonstrated the urgency as the drivers headed out for their final laps by nipping ahead of Piastri as they exited the pits.
Russell also attacked Norris on his out loop, trying to gain track position. However, Norris held him off and Russell had to back off before starting his lap.
In the end, all the panic was for nothing as while rain came, it was only a few spots and not enough to affect the conditions.
Norris said that, if anything, the rain might have helped lap times by cooling the tyres a little.
"It wasn't a lap that felt mega," the world champion said. "It was one where I committed a lot more because I knew how close it would be, and I almost made more mistakes.
"But I seemed to gain more than I seemed to lose at times. It was a lap where I just felt I had nothing to lose and it just paid off."
Russell said a mistake in Turn Eight on his final run had cost him as the tyres got too hot and he was unable to keep improving.
Antonelli, too, was left to rue a mistake on his final run, saying he lost 0.2secs in Turn One taking things too easy because of the rain - he missed out on pole by 0.133secs.
Hamilton benefited from that by leaving his run late and benefiting from the usual improvement in track conditions through qualifying to pip Leclerc by 0.064secs.
Yuki Tsunoda, back on the grid to replace Lawson at Racing Bulls, was 12th.
And while Aston Martin believed their upgraded Honda engine had delivered what they expected, Fernando Alonso was not able to hold on to the 12th place he held going into the final runs of the first session, and dropped down to 18th.
"The out lap was not great, you know, people were doing some prep laps, some of the fast laps, so there is always one 10th more here and there," Alonso said.
"But I think it doesn't change much. The position is not that bad. The previous lap was four tenths off, you know, it was just close to the limit, so this is what we have." %!s()
The easy sausage and tortellini soup recipe was hearty, but unbelievably easy to make.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
There's nothing quite like a warm, hearty bowl of soup when the weather starts to cool down — especially one that's easy enough to throw together on a busy weeknight.
… %!s()
As fall approaches, I've been seeing recipes for sausage and tortellini soup all over social media. With savory Italian sausage, cheesy tortellini, and a rich, comforting tomato base, it looked like exactly the kind of low-effort recipe I'd reach for after a long day.
The recipe called for just a handful of standard ingredients I could find at the grocery store, along with a few pantry staples.
I was impressed by how quickly everything came together — the soup was cozy, filling, and surprisingly easy to make, with enough flavor to feel like I'd spent far more time in the kitchen than I actually had.
After trying it for myself, I can see why sausage and tortellini soup has become such a viral recipe. Here's how I made it and what I thought.
I started by gathering the ingredients for the soup.
The ingredients for the tortellini soup.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The ingredient list was pretty straightforward. While I've seen many versions of this tomato, sausage, and tortellini soup online, I followed a recipe from Here's Your Bite, which was first posted on TikTok in 2024.
To make it, you'll need:
I cooked the mirepoix in butter and olive oil first.
I added the carrots, celery, and onions to a large pot.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
In a large Dutch oven, I melted the olive oil and butter together before adding the diced celery, onions, and carrots over medium-high heat.
While the mixture cooked down and became fragrant, I added my seasonings.
I seasoned the vegetables in the pot.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The recipe called for Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. These were all standard seasonings I already had in my pantry.
I sautéed the vegetables for about 5 minutes.
I cooked the vegetables down until they began to soften.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
After a few minutes, the vegetables started to soften and lightly caramelize around the edges.
Next, I added garlic to the vegetables — I always add minced garlic to the pot later than other vegetables, as I find it starts to burn much more quickly.
By now, my kitchen was already smelling heavenly.
I browned the Italian sausage directly in the pot.
I then added the Italian sausage to the pot.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
I used spicy Italian sausage for an extra kick. As it cooked, I broke the sausage into smaller pieces and mixed it with the vegetables to combine everything.
The recipe said to cook it until it was no longer pink, which took about 10 minutes.
Once the sausage was cooked, I cleared a space in the middle of the pot for the tomato paste.
I cooked the tomato paste in the center of the pot.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The recipe recommended adding the 3 tablespoons of tomato paste right in the center of the pot and letting it cook on its own for about a minute before mixing it into the sausage and vegetables.
After that, I stirred the tomato paste into the sausage and vegetables.
I mixed the tomato paste into the sausage and vegetable mixture.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The mixture became much richer and more tomato-forward.
I sprinkled the flour evenly over the sausage mixture and stirred until it disappeared into everything else. The recipe called for cooking it for a minute or two to remove any raw flour taste.
I then poured in the white wine and used a wooden spatula to scrape up any bits that had stuck to the bottom of the pan.
This is where the mixture really thickened and congealed into a delicious-smelling base for the rest of the soup.
After a couple of minutes, I added the crushed tomatoes and chicken broth.
I added the crushed tomatoes and chicken broth to the pot.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
I seasoned the mixture with more salt and pepper, and poured a bit of water into my can of crushed tomatoes to make sure every drop was added to my pot.
Instead of using store-bought chicken broth, I made my own using Better Than Bouillon chicken base and boiling water. I find that it makes for a richer, more flavorful broth.
The pot finally started looking like soup.
I added a Parmesan rind while the soup simmered.
I used a Parmesan rind I had in my fridge.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The Parmesan rind was optional, but I decided to use it. As someone who goes through a lot of Parmesan cheese, I luckily already had a nearly-used-up block in my fridge, so I just cut it down to remove the rind.
I dropped it directly into the tomato broth and also added a bay leaf for extra flavor. Then, I let the soup simmer uncovered for about 20 to 30 minutes.
As it simmered, the broth darkened and concentrated.
I added the tortellini and spinach near the end.
I added the tortellini pasta and spinach to the pot.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Once the broth had simmered, I removed the bay leaf and the Parmesan rind.
Then, I added the tortellini directly to the pot and stirred in the spinach at the same time. The tortellini only needed a few minutes to become tender, and the spinach wilted almost immediately into the hot broth.
After the tortellini had cooked, I added the heavy cream and Parmesan cheese as a final touch.
I added the cream and Parmesan cheese as the last step.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The heavy cream and grated cheese made the soup noticeably thicker. The finished soup looked creamy, hearty, and packed with tortellini.
The sausage was evenly distributed throughout the soup, and bits of spinach added color to each spoonful.
The finished soup looked hearty and creamy — perfect for an early fall day.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The cream made the tomato base look especially rich. It looked much more indulgent than the simple steps it took to prepare.
I topped my bowl with a dusting of freshly grated Parmesan.
The finished dish was somewhere between a standard pasta sauce and a soup.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The cheese started melting as soon as it hit the hot soup, and added even more savory flavor to the tomato broth, while the tortellini and sausage made every spoonful feel substantial.
It looked exactly like the kind of meal I would want on a cool fall night.
The finished dish landed somewhere between a traditional pasta with sauce and a soup.
The soup was cozy, filling, and surprisingly easy to make.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The tomato-and-cream base was thicker and richer than a typical broth, but still loose enough to eat by the spoonful. The tortellini and sausage also made the soup feel hearty and substantial, almost like a saucy pasta dish with extra liquid.
The recipe was enough to feed four people with plenty left over, which was a bonus.
I would happily make this again for an easy weeknight dinner.
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Erin McDowell
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Erin McDowell is a reporter on Business Insider's editorial partnerships team. She covers food, lifestyle, and entertainment for Business Insider and its partner sites, including MSN, Apple News, and Yahoo.She graduated from Elon University in January 2019, where she studied strategic communications and digital art. She has written for V Magazine, Milk.XYZ, OUT.com, Brides Magazine, and more. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, and can be found on LinkedIn. Please send all inquiries, comments, or tips to [email protected].Selected stories:
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Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Securities Litigation Partner James (Josh) Wilson Encourages Investors Who Suffered Losses In Cogent To Contact Him Directly To Discuss Their Options
If you purchased or acquired securities in Cogent between February 29, 2024 and May 1, 2026 and would like to discuss your legal rights, call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310).
New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - August 13, 2026) - Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential claims against Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (""Cogent" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: CCOI) and reminds investors of the September 21, 2026 deadline to seek the role of lead plaintiff in a federal securities class action that has been filed against the Company.
Faruqi & Faruqi is a leading national securities law firm with offices in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia. The firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors since its founding in 1995. See www.faruqilaw.com.
As detailed below, the complaint alleges that the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose that: (a) that the vast majority of the purported orders in Cogent's optical wavelength "backlog" were unlikely to ever result in a paid order; (b) that large quantities of the customers in Cogent's purported optical wavelength "backlog" were unable or unwilling to accept delivery even if Cogent was in a position to provision the wavelength in a timely manner; (c) that, as a result of (a)-(b) above, defendants had materially misrepresented customer demand for Cogent's optical wavelength services and the nature of the Company's purported "backlog" of wavelength orders; (d) that, as a result of (a)-(c) above, Cogent was not on track to achieve its revenue and margin targets and such targets lacked a reasonable basis in objective fact; (e) that Cogent did not have the financial capacity or business fundamentals to maintain its long-standing dividend policy; and (f) that there was a material, undisclosed risk that defendant Schaeffer would be forced to sell vast quantities of Cogent stock as a result of his high-risk pledging activities, thereby further depressing the price of Cogent stock in the event the truth regarding Cogent's "backlog," demand issues, and financial position were ever revealed.
On February 27, 2025, Cogent issued a release announcing its fourth quarter 2024 and year-end 2024 financial results, reporting that its annual revenue run rate was only $28 million - a far cry from the 2028 target of $500 million - and its backlog declined sequentially from 3,400 in the prior quarter to 2,700 in the fourth quarter, with growth in wavelength connections slowing from 287 net additions in 3Q24 to 77 net additions in 4Q24. On this news, Cogent's stock price fell $7.65, or 10%, on February 27, 2025, on abnormally high volume.
On May 8, 2025, Cogent issued a release announcing its first quarter 2025 financial results, with defendants admitting that 90% of the 3,400 backlog figure quoted with 3Q24 results "fell out" and that customers were not ready to accept delivery even though Cogent was ready to provision them. On this news, Cogent's stock price fell $3.91, or 7%, to close on May 8, 2025, on abnormally high volume.
On August 7, 2025, Cogent issued a release announcing its second quarter 2025 financial results, reporting that the Company only added 147 net connections during the quarter (far less than the claimed 4% to 5% monthly conversion rate), and defendant Schaeffer stated that Cogent had installed "several hundred" additional wavelengths to customers who were not yet being billed because the customers were "surprised" by Cogent's quick provisioning times and were not able or willing to accept the service, with Cogent's gross leverage ratio increasing to 8.65x. On this news, Cogent's stock price fell $8.54, or 19%, on August 7, 2025, and declined an additional $4.72, or 13%, on August 8,
The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not.
Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding Cogent's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others.
To learn more about the Cogent class action, go to www.faruqilaw.com/CCOI or call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Investors Regarding the Cogent Securities Class Action Lawsuit:
What is the Cogent securities fraud lawsuit about?
Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors in Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) arising from allegedly false and misleading statements made during the Class Period. The lawsuit alleges that Cogent and certain of its officers misrepresented the nature and strength of the Company's optical wavelength backlog, purportedly concealing that the vast majority of orders in that backlog were unlikely to ever result in paid revenue and that large numbers of customers were allegedly unable or unwilling to accept delivery of services. The complaint further alleges that, as a result of these misrepresentations, Cogent's publicly stated revenue and margin targets lacked a reasonable basis, the Company's ability to maintain its dividend policy was materially overstated, and investors were not informed of a material risk that a senior executive's pledging of Company stock could lead to forced sales that would further depress the share price. When corrective disclosures were made - including admissions in May 2025 that approximately 90% of a previously reported backlog figure had "fallen out" - Cogent's stock price allegedly declined significantly, causing losses to investors who purchased shares at allegedly artificially inflated prices.
Who may be eligible to participate in the lawsuit?
Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares of Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. common stock on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol CCOI between February 29, 2024 and May 1, 2026, inclusive, may be eligible to participate in this lawsuit as members of the proposed class. Eligibility to participate is not conditioned on being appointed lead plaintiff; class members who take no active role in the litigation may still share in any recovery that is ultimately obtained. Investors who believe they suffered losses on their CCOI holdings during the Class Period are encouraged to review their trading records to determine whether they fall within the defined class. Participation in a securities class action does not require any upfront payment, as plaintiff counsel in such cases typically works on a contingency-fee basis.
What is a lead plaintiff, and how can I seek appointment?
A lead plaintiff is a court-appointed representative who acts on behalf of all members of the proposed class and plays an active role in directing the litigation, including decisions regarding litigation strategy and settlement. Courts generally appoint the investor or investor group that demonstrates the largest financial interest in the relief sought and that otherwise satisfies the requirements of the applicable securities laws. Any class member who wishes to be considered for appointment as lead plaintiff must file a motion with the court no later than September 21, 2026, which is the lead plaintiff deadline in this action. Importantly, investors are not required to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in order to be eligible to share in any class recovery; the vast majority of class members participate without taking on any formal representative role.
What should investors do if they purchased Cogent stock during the Class Period?
Investors who purchased or acquired Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CCOI) stock during the Class Period - February 29, 2024 through May 1, 2026, inclusive - are encouraged to promptly review their brokerage and trading records to confirm the dates and prices of their transactions. It is important to preserve all relevant documentation, including trade confirmations, account statements, and any communications relating to CCOI investments, as such records may be necessary to establish eligibility and the extent of any claimed losses. Investors wishing to be considered for the lead plaintiff role must act before the September 21, 2026 court deadline, though consulting with counsel at the earliest opportunity is advisable regardless of whether an investor intends to seek that appointment. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP is available to speak with investors about their legal rights and options at no obligation prior to that deadline.
Why should investors contact Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP?
Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP has represented investors in securities litigation for decades and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for shareholders. Investors who purchased Cogent securities during the Class Period may contact the firm to discuss their legal rights, potential claims, and the lead plaintiff process at no cost or obligation.
Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner.
I am currently watching Marianne, the grisly, horrifying series from 2019 that takes place in France, and with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, is one of the highest-rated horror shows in Netflix history. It’s my second time through, but perhaps I’ll take a break for a new European murder show instead.
… %!s()
The new series is Blood Sacrifice, currently #3 on Netflix’s top 10 list. It’s Nordic, in this case from Sweden, where that region produces some fantastic series in this genre, particularly miniseries. Blood Sacrifice has arrived with a solid 86% Rotten Tomatoes review score, and it is worth checking out.
What’s Blood Sacrifice about? The concept is that murders targeting police officers begin to happen every Friday at 1:15 AM, and a detective attempts to stop the timely killer to prevent this from happening as a weekly occurrence. He will have to pair up with his estranged ex-cop father to do so.
The series is led by Jakob Oftebro, who previously appeared in Escaping Bolivia, Stenbeck, and the very highly scored Kids in Crime. It’s worth noting that Blood Sacrifice was created by George Kay, who previously created Gone, Hijack and Lupin, all high-profile series. Also, he did the entire Criminal series, which spanned four European countries: the UK, France, Germany, and Spain. The point being, he’s got a great pedigree and Blood Sacrifice is especially noteworthy given his involvement.
Blood Sacrifice
COURTESY OF NETFLIX
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While Outer Banks is dominating many countries on Netflix right now, including the US, Blood Sacrifice is actually #1 on the service in 12 regions. #3 on Netflix in the US means it could crawl higher in time, though given the fact that this is the series finale of Outer Banks, it may be tough to ever grab #1.
Here’s what some critics are saying about Blood Sacrifice, if you wanted more specifics before you gave it a shot:
Variety – “Intense, bloody and thought-provoking, the show is much more than a standard murder mystery.”
Decider – “Blood Sacrifice presents an intriguing mystery, but we hope that the relationship between the father and son investigating the killings at the center of the show gets the time it deserves.”
At just five episodes, it certainly seems like it will be around four hours of your time in full. The only other crime series out recently on Netflix are true-crime offerings, where a few of those are dumped out every week. If you’re looking for an actual drama, it seems like it may be time for Blood Sacrifice to fill that void.
Across thousands of hours spent slaying gods and protecting humanity from the Darkness, one of the most important memories that Mac — better known as Mactics, a streamer and YouTuber who built a career helping hundreds of thousands of Destiny players master the game — has from the franchise seems like an unremarkable one.
… %!s()
He stood on the roof of a decaying structure in the Plaguelands section of Old Russia on Earth while his girlfriend, Liv, stood a short distance away, perched atop a nearby building. Over their shared comms, Lord Saladin grimly recalled the fall of the Iron Lords. Across the way, Liv waved to Mac. He smiled and waved back. In real life, they were hundreds of miles apart, and their hearts were breaking.
“It’s quite random, but there was a sequence during the Rise of Iron campaign where the two of us were on opposite ends of a structure while some dialogue was playing, and she just waved at me and I waved back,” Mactics told Polygon via email. “This was after months of being apart, and I can’t remember a time since then that I had had a stronger feeling of being right by her side.”
Image: Mactics / Bungie
Nearly a decade later, Mactics stumbled across that memory again while preparing to say goodbye to the game that helped keep them together.
On May 21, Bungie announced that Destiny 2 would receive its final live-service content update on June 9, as the studio shifted its focus toward incubating new games. Destiny 2 wasn’t shutting down: Bungie promised to keep the game playable, just as the original Destiny remains playable today. But after nearly 12 years of the Destiny franchise, the announcement nevertheless marked the end of an era. There would be no more content, no new Strikes or Raids, and aside from the hollow hunt for the perfect Edge Transit roll, no real reason to keep playing.
Six days later, Mactics shared the story of how Destiny had become inextricably linked with his relationship on social media.
Mactics and his now-wife began dating during their sophomore year of high school. When graduation came, they chose colleges hundreds of miles apart. They decided to try long distance rather than abandon a relationship that had already lasted several years. The transition was brutal.
They wrote physical letters to each other, spraying them with cologne or perfume. They exchanged sweatshirts carrying each other’s scent. They would even fall asleep together over FaceTime. None of it could capture the casual intimacy they had taken for granted when seeing one another every day required only a short drive. Then they tried Destiny.
Mactics had started playing the original Destiny around April 2016, after hearing his brother talk incessantly about the game. His girlfriend, meanwhile, wasn’t much of a gamer. Mactics suggested that they try playing together as another way to spend time with each other from afar. What began as a single virtual date soon became a nightly ritual.
“Despite being so far away from each other, seeing her Guardian and her seeing mine made an indescribable difference,” Mactics wrote in his May 27 post. “Our digital characters were a catalyst to manifesting each other’s presence right next to each other despite what felt like being on different sides of the world. We experienced every story, every adventure, every strike and every raid together over and over and over.”
A promotional image for Rise of Iron featuring a hunter fighting against several Fallen enemies.Image: Bungie
Both played Hunters, the class defined by its agility, precision, and gunslinger flair. “Hunter mains through and through,” Mactics said. His wife would eventually get a Hunter class insignia tattoo. But they never invented elaborate backstories for their Guardians or role-played outright. The fantasy wasn't what mattered. The time together did.
“For us, just feeling like we were next to each other was more than enough,” Mactics said. Sometimes that meant behaving exactly as they would have if they really were in the same room. Standing close together, waving, just chatting while they idled at the Tower.
While taking his girlfriend through The Taken King campaign for the first time, Mactics remembered a notorious trap awaiting players as they climbed the colony ship in the Cosmodrome to retrieve Cayde-6’s stealth drive. During the mission called "Cayde's Stash,” a Taken Phalanx waits behind a door as a bit of a jump scare. (A normal Cabal Phalanx is just a brawny alien with a large shield, but the corrupted Taken version uses that same shield to emit a concussive energy blast.) It’s a trap designed into the mission to knock unsuspecting players off the ledge so they plummet to their death.
Image: Bungie
Mactics knew it was there. His girlfriend didn’t. Ladies first, right?
“There was a lot of cussing and laughter and feelings of betrayal as her character flopped off the tower,” he said. “Would still do it again, and I guarantee if the roles were reversed, she would’ve done it to me. There is a lot of teasing and banter between us. It’s one of my favorite parts of our chemistry together.”
They kept playing. Mactics credits the time they spent in Sol as a truly enriching part of their relationship.
“Every story, every adventure, every Strike, and every Raid,” Mactics recalled. Four years passed. He graduated, received his first job offer, and the couple moved into a small apartment together in downtown Cincinnati. Now, they now own a house together and are married.
Destiny remained part of Mactics’ life even after it was no longer necessary to bridge the physical distance between them. Mactics eventually made his passion for Destiny into a career as a content creator. Though he's a Twitch Partner with 141 thousand followers, he built his largest audience on the YouTube channel he created in 2020, which has 431,000 subscribers. While his content varies, he often focuses on helping Destiny 2 players tackle the game’s more demanding PvE content, particularly with complex character builds for endgame challenges he’s still publishing today. One of his top posts, to the tune of 800,000 views, focuses on a hugely powerful Arc Hunter build. While he’s branched out into games like Warframe and Bungie’s Marathon, Destiny remains the game around which he built his audience — and, as he tells it, many of his closest relationships.
Even the brother who originally introduced him to Destiny has returned, after roughly half a decade away, and is running raids with him again.
“You really don’t realize how much of a real-life impact these video games can have on you.”
“The idea of something that can make people far away from each other feel connected to that degree is something that is really attractive to immerse yourself in,” Mactics said. He suspects the relationships he built and strengthened through Destiny eventually helped push him toward becoming more involved in its wider community.
So, when Bungie announced that development on Destiny 2 was coming to an end, Mactics found himself sitting at the character-select screen during a livestream, talking with other members of the community as they processed the news together. Then he noticed the View Your Legacy option.
The feature preserves players' milestones: finishing campaigns, completing raids and other moments from a Guardian’s history. Mactics opened it simply to reminisce. Dates marking his first completion of Destiny’s original campaign and his first King’s Fall clear brought back old memories. Then Rise of Iron appeared.
“When I saw that simple screenshot of our names on the Rise of Iron campaign, it hit me like a bus,” Mactics said. “You really don’t realize how much of a real-life impact these video games can have on you.”
Image: Mactics / Bungie
There they were: Mactics and Liv, together on Sept. 20, 2016, the day Rise of Iron launched.
“In the blink of an eye, that screenshot took me back to a time when I was sitting in my freshman dorm room with my TV at the foot of my bed, playing Rise of Iron with someone hundreds of miles away that I was used to seeing every single day.”
Bungie released Monument of Triumph on June 9, Destiny 2’s final planned live-service update. Fittingly, it was conceived partly as a retrospective, celebrating what Guardians had accomplished over the game’s lifetime while reworking Destiny 2 into something players could return to after active development ended.
Much of the conversation surrounding Destiny’s final years has inevitably revolved around numbers: player counts, engagement, the commercial health of the game and what those metrics meant for its future. Mactics thinks that can obscure what games like Destiny are actually for.
“Games allow us to have fun and make memories,” he said. “The player counts and numbers are for the developers and the businesses to worry about, and I feel that we as players only do ourselves a disservice when we fixate on player counts having a direct correlation to how fun or un-fun a game is for us personally.”
“If numbers were indicative of objective quality in this regard, then McDonald’s would be considered the best restaurant in the world,” he added.
Destiny 2 is no longer active in the live-service sense, but it isn’t dead. Its servers remain online. Guardians still flock to the Tower, raid with clanmates, or simply bounce a big purple ball off their heads. Maybe they’re dancing somewhere in the solar system alongside someone they love. For Mactics, that really matters.
“At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter if a million, 10 thousand, or 100 people are playing the game that you are also playing,” he said. “If you have fun playing it, feel connected to others through it, or make fond memories while on it, then who cares?”
For four years, Destiny gave Mactics and the woman he would eventually marry somewhere to be together when circumstances split them apart. While it might feel like the game is dead, the memories remain — and so does the game itself.
“If you still have fun playing it,” he said, “then it is as alive as ever.” %!s()