Destiny looks likely to spawn several sequels, and it's for this reason that your characters are cross-generational.

That's according to Bungie engineer Roger Wolfson, who told Digital Trends that the developer was keen to enable you to keep playing as your initial character right the way across the franchise. That's not to say newcomers won't be welcome, however.“Our goal for Destiny is that each time you play it, you’re going to have a different experience,” he said.“Not just because of the social interaction, and the fact that you can play with different people, but because your character is growing and will have different ways of playing the same content every time you go back and replay it.“Let’s say Destiny 2 [and] Destiny 3 are out, and we have new players joining the fun. [They] want to play those new games alongside those who have been playing Destiny from the beginning.“[We want to ensure] they won’t feel like they’re four years behind. And then, if they want to, they’ll be able to go back and pick up the old content on their same character. So we’ve done a lot of planning for how that’s going to work, to not make people feel like they have years worth of levelling up to do.”Despite cross-generational characters being allowed, Wolfson explained why the team was against allowing PS3 and Xbox 360 owners to play with gamers on the respective next-generation consoles, arguing it was all about keeping things fair. "I have a disadvantage sniping across the map because [my opponent with a next-gen console] is only two pixels on my screen and I’m four pixels on his," he said.What's interesting about this news is it raises questions about what post-launch support we should expect to see from Bungie for Destiny. The decision to work on sequels rather than expansions or something similar suggests we may not see the regular content patches we usually do in MMOs, though the fact the developer has suggested a 10-year life cycle for the game implies we'll surely see new quests and the like.We're covering Destiny all month long on IGN First, our new initiative that takes you deeper into the games you care about most . You can check out all the reveals up to date right now . The Destiny beta began on PS4 and PS3 on July 17, then goes offline later today, before returning on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360 on Wednesday, July 23. The beta ends on Sunday, July 27.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter