Okay, so Destiny's expansions have always been overpriced, but the argument is that it could have a subscription fee if it wanted - but it doesn't. We don't necessarily agree with that analysis, but we've always said that microtransactions could very easily be implemented into the structure of the shooter, and that Activision and Bungie have done well not to give in to the temptation. Well, that's sadly no longer the case, as later this month, on the 13th October, the developer will be adding cosmetic items that you can buy with real money.
The Eververse Trading Company will pop up in the Tower along with Tess, who's been missing since patch 2.00. Initially, she'll be selling 18 new emotes that you can purchase with 'silver' - a new currency that's only obtainable with cold hard cash. It's worth noting, though, that existing players will get some free silver to spend on whatever they want, which we suppose is a nice enough gesture.
With the way that things are worded, it would seem as though Tess' inventory will change now and again, so who knows what other items she might bring to the social space. Bungie's quick to point out that she'll never deal in anything that has an impact on the action, or your progress, however. You'll never need any of this optional stuff to fulfil quests or bounties, for example. Still, as always, slapping microtransactions into a fully priced retail release has never sat well with us, regardless of whether Destiny identifies as some sort of massively multiplayer online title or not.
What do you make of this? Are you saddened that microtransactions have finally seeped into the sci-fi blast-'em-up, or are you apathetic? Become the Speaker in the comments section below.
[source bungie.net]
Comments 41
You forgot to mention that there are free new missions and quests coming all this year until Destiny 2. This is supposedly a new business direction to make the game more MMO like. With free content updates and cosmetic micrtransactions in lieu of paid DLC. Microtransactions aren't bad when implemented well, and I think this is the right move for Destiny. Especially since the paid DLC separates the community and doesn't allow for many people who don't have the DLC to play the Weekly Missions, Strikes, and Crucible. This is nothing to be whinging about, to be honest. This is a greatly positive move for Destiny.
Yeah, WoW said their microtransactions would never impact gameplay either, and look at them now. Mazeltov, Destiny, you're becoming a real MMO!
I quite like this idea, I don't particularly approve about micro transactions as a whole and if this was at launch then it'd be a big no no. Now though the game is a year old and these are purely cosmetic and I've seen this kind of thing work really well in other games. If anyone wants to cheer themselves up just read the comments section at ign on this, it's hilarious. As others have and will say as long as they stay cosmetic then I'm all for it especially if they essentially pay for other extra content to be made. My only real concern is whether they will be priced sensibly after the doc packs and the way overpriced digital collection upgrade business.
If it makes the two upcoming expansions free and allows for less content droughts than im cool. I know the next two $20 expansions were based on the Cabal and Vex but I'm hoping we can get some.nice events and a continuation of the Awolen plot line soon enough.
The weekly update for this week should be interesting.
I honestly think microtransactions in any AAA title are indefensible. I'm the first to defend Destiny most of the time, but this is a d**k move by bungie.
Im not in the least bit shocked by this.
Expected only shocked it took this long, so glad I didn't pick up Taken King.
All I want to know is where is the Exotic armour that was supposed to be in the Taken King vanished too? & it's not just one or two items it's quite a bit of stuff. I supposed this will end up being the FREE DLC they are talking about, after paying £40 for Taken King if that turns out to be the case I am done with Destiny. Hopefully someone would have the brains to sue them both for false advertisement, because that Exotic amour was in TV ads advertised as being in the Taken King & at this moment its no where to be found.
Of course, it's not ideal is it!
Having said that, I've never been too fussed about what the guy next to me in Destiny has. If he wants to cheese strikes all afternoon then fair enough, I don't see this as being much different really anyway.
I don't play much PVP so if the guy in my fire team wants to spend his real dollar on a powerful gun that gets us all through a nightfall I can't say I'm that fussed.
I'd spend a couple of quid on an item I REALLY REALLY wanted I guess.
(I don't play much PVP so if the guy in my fire team wants to spend his real dollar on a powerful gun that gets us all through a nightfall I can't say I'm that fussed.)
After paying full RRP for a game & your fine with that? all I can say is god help the gaming industry.
Anyone thinking this is ok read @Fath post. On the money. Same company.
I'm the type of person who's unconscious brain forces me to buy crap like this. Glad ttk is well on the backburner. Bring on unchartered and disgaea.
@banacheck What, I'm fine with someone in my fireteam spending his own money on an in game item for themselves? You bet I am! Why am I going to get upset about how someone else choses to spend his money haha. I mean, I guess if it did annoy me I'd just stop playing with them and find someone else.
Wouldn't worry too much about the gaming industry buddy, there's some great games out at the moment and more on the way.
@kyleforrester87
I think your missing a very big point, your paying around £49.99- £55 which is the full RRP for a game in the UK. & after paying that you would be ok with that company to sell you or anyone else powerful guns? it's like buying COD and then having to pay again for Zombies.
@banacheck I'm not missing the point, I'm trying to see the bigger picture. Reality is if people want to buy this stuff, they are not wrong to do so. It might not fit into what you consider acceptable but that doesn't make it wrong.
This argument has been had countless times before. Microtransactions have been around for years now and I'm struggling to think of a game that has been negatively affected in any meaningful way by their inclusion, despite pre-release concerns - latest example being MGS5. It's way past the point of "setting a precedent" - if they truly were the future they'd be in everything, and I'd probably have found a new hobby. But they aren't, because most people treat them as the frivolous novelty that they are. And it's my opinion that people aren't wrong to spend there money on these items if they really want to. Of course, you're entitled to think otherwise.
But at the end of the day it isn't worth worrying about - as I said, there are tons of games that don't utilise this form of monetisation, and many more on the way.
One step closer to a free-to-play version. It's going to happen.
@get2sammyb Yeah, maybe.. but I imagine while the player base stays strong it won't be an avenue they go down. Could definitely see it going that way in years to come if and when player numbers dwindle.
@kyleforrester87
I am sorry but MGSV FOB microtransactions are not the same as selling weapons no one else can get unless you pay, one is affecting gameplay the other isn't your just buying more land.
@banacheck it was just an example, perhaps Dead Space 3 is a more suitable one. All the same really though isn't it, the point is while people got worked up about it, it hasn't really made any difference to the overall gaming landscape and hasn't broken the experience as per pre-release fears. Also what you've mentioned, i.e selling weapons that no one else has access to is not yet on the agenda unless I've misread the article.
Anyway, it's unlikely I'll be spending any money on items myself.
Beginning of end of destiny
*Cue hate for Destiny.
ESO is one of the best games I've played and has had 2 x £15 expansions in a few months, a £10 subscription if you want and countless VERY expensive items from the store and yet it's not cool to hate on ESO is it?
Whilst they are just selling cosmetic stuff, who really cares...? Nobody is forcing you to buy.
@banacheck Game development costs have increased drastically and so have the average salary over the last 15 years and yet new games are almost the same price off the shelves...so DLC and micro-transactions are a way of these companies still making money.
I know people really like hating on EA, Ubisoft, Destiny because it's cool to hate big corporations but they are there to make money.
@milero91 Be careful with that kind of logic, buddy.
The thing that actually gets my back up is when you comment that you may be interested in buying a certain microtransaction, and then you're accused of being a moron, bringing about the end of the gaming industry. Doh.
What @Constable_what said. There is an upside to this, which is the trickle of free in game content to missions etc. Plus, it's just cosmetic stuff, if you don't want it don't buy it.
I have zero issues with this news, if anything the fact there's going to be free in game content as opposed to paying £20 for The Dark Below equivalent is amazing.
Microtransactions for cosmetic stuff is borderline okay for a full priced game but I'm getting concerned that F2P elements coming into paid games is started to become the norm.
At least EA is going the right way. There's no microtransactions in the new Star Wars game.
@milero91 The difference with ESO, though, is that it is actually a fully fledged MMO that was built with a subscription fee in mind. The microtransactions in that are a necessary step after the game went with its current model. ESO also doesn't charge £20 and £40 for expansions, or release three of them in one year. I do see what you're saying, however.
@ShogunRok The article itself is balanced so my comments were more for people who were jumping on the "I hate Destiny" bandwagon.
I personally don't mind as long as I can still play and enjoy the game without paying anything extra.
In all fairness to ESO it does have 3747958593747494 hours of content too!!!!
@milero91 Oh yeah, I agree. I love Destiny - especially after The Taken King - I'm just always careful around microtransactions. If the income from these items can help support the team at Bungie make more free content, then there's a good side to that. If they pump out another £100 worth of expansions in 2016, though? I'm not so sure.
@kyleforrester87 Are you Bones from Steam?
@ShogunRok We'll have to wait and see, but hopefully we'll see more free content or good value content. I personally stopped playing for about 6 months but TTK has brought me back and it seems like they are trying to deliver what people want. Fingers Crossed!
@smallboy944 I...don't think so?
As long as it is purely cosmetic, then that is fine! Just please stay away from Diablo III's "Best weapon in the game costs money" thing.
Seeing as how these don't impact game play, it doesn't bother me. Its just emotes so. Different shaders could maybe be cool, though I've pretty much got the ones I want. I think we'll be juuuust fine.
Shouldn't those emote's have come with the taken king dlc?
@BoltedArc I wondered the same thing. Thought they were part of the pre-order. ...Conspiracy.
@get2sammyb - "One step closer to a free-to-play version. It's going to happen."
I think you have it backwards. I don't think free-to-play is going to expand from app games to console games, I think pay-to-start is going to expand from consoles to smartphones and tablets.
App games had to be free-to-start, b/c nobody was going to pay to play those cheap little match 3 and endless runners. Just like MAaozn had to have free shipping to combat b&m retailors. ell guess what, several businesses are out of business b/c of Amazon, and companies like Konami, and even Nintnedo w/ it's DeNA deal, are moving towards mobile. Mobile is winning, console games are losing. Once there are fewer home console games, adn tablets and phones are powerful enough to play graphically impressive games, apps can start charging, and they will.
Take Nintendo, who for years held themselves up as the bastion of gaming purity, or some such pompous nonsense. Now their 2 flagship titles, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros, both have after-market paid add-ons. SSB currently has more in DLC costs than the $60 base game. And while Nintneod was working on SSB they said there weren't any plans for DLC.
If Nintnedo, the last great hold-out, is going to charge $60 for it's base games, and then charge another $60 for DLC, ($12 for MK8 season pass, plus all th e$13 amiibo skins), then there is no going back. More and more game swill have paid DLC, but fewer and fewer games will be free-to-start. It's free-to-start that will eventually go away, not $60 base games. Maybe down to $40 or $20, but not free, there's no need.
The more people feed into Activision the more they will try and take. They've been milking Destiny with DLC and if you think microtransactions is the beginning you're wrong. Activision is a business that just happens to sell video games, know who you're dealing with people.
Their DLC and games are gonna keep getting watered down.
@Constable_What is not in lieu of paid DLC though is it? It's in addition to wildly overpriced DLC with two more to follow.
All round horrible business practice on this game and that's what is keeping me away since TTK arrived.
@get2sammyb they're just copying more of Warframe
@MikLSP Yes it is, at least for next year (2016), the only paid expansion they have planned is Destiny 2. They're losing too many people across expansions because of the featured playlists. There will be more on this later on about how they'll be approaching the business side of Destiny. I don't know about new Strikes or Raids, but they definitely said free new story missions and quests along with they events they've been having. It makes sense that they'd want as many people as possible all having access to the same things, all investing their time, all having fun without being restricted by DLC, so that those people will feel more comfortable purchasing the microtransactions while also not feeling left out or segregated.
Alternatively, you won't need to buy them anyway, as the bulk of all profit from microtransactions are from a very small subset of people compared to everyone playing. Knowing that Activision/Bungie can safely come to the conclusion that uniting the community while also adding these microtransactions is a way to keep people who bought the Taken King together and happy while also making money compared to the expensive DLC. Look at it this way if they released one game (Destiny, Destiny 2, and Destiny 3) at $60 USD and released all of the extra content for free while also maintaining servers (For not only the game across two platforms but for their website, forums, and apps), advertising, ect. they would most likely have a net loss of profit or at least not enough of a net gain to justify making another game, or even maintaining servers or keeping it curated on the PSN and XBL stores.
This is a ten year business deal. AAA Franchises can't survive that long without at least something in the way of DLC, yearly releases, companion media, microtransactions ect. It isn't bad it's just really different. Video game publishers and studios are businesses if they aren't making money they can't/won't make games.
I've been noticing people commenting about how this is a horrible business decision. When it's not. This is going to make Activision and Bungie a lot of money. That's the whole point of business. Rule one of business is to maximize profits while minimizing loss. This seems like a really good business model going forward for Destiny.
I wonder what's going to make more money expensive DLC that the crafty consumer will wait to drop down in price? Or cheaper infinitely more plentiful goods that everyone will have access to in the social space at the tower. They're even applying tried and true drug dealer business tactics by giving everyone some silver for free! All it takes is a few people buying emotes and their friends getting jealous of that stupidly cool new dance, and so on and so forth, ad nauseum.
The take away is that the new content is being funded by people who enjoy that kind of stuff. And people who don't just play the game. But even they are doing something to stimulate spending money of microtransactions. I mean, no one likes playing in an empty game right? Everyone is doing their part on an economic or psychological level. I guarantee almost everyone that is playing now will at least buy one thing from the Eververse Trading Company. I mean, you get your first one free. Evil laugh
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