Destiny 2 Microtransactions Eververse

When Bungie split from Activison near the beginning of the year, many assumed that Destiny 2's microtransactions would soon be a thing of the past. However, it was perhaps naive to think that the developer would scrap in-game purchases completely. After all, without a publisher to back its ongoing project, Bungie could surely do with some additional income. In a new (and lengthy) blog post, director Luke Smith goes into detail regarding Destiny 2's Eververse store -- an in-game shop where you can exchange real money for various cosmetic items.

The gist of this is that the Eververse is expanding. This news has come as a bit of a shock to many, but Smith does his best to explain the studio's decision. "Last year, we thought long and hard about Eververse and how we wanted to change the strategy around microtransactions in Destiny. As some folks have smartly pointed out, MTX is a big part of our business being a live game. I'm not going to say "MTX funds the studio" or "pays for projects like Shadowkeep" -- it doesn't wholly fund either of those things. But it does help fund ongoing development of Destiny 2, and allows us to fund creative efforts we otherwise couldn't afford," Smith states.

In other words, the money Bungie makes from microtransactions helps keep Destiny 2 chugging along with new content. Smith gives an example: "Whisper of the Worm's ornaments were successful enough that it paid [dev cost-wise] for the Zero Hour mission/rewards to be constructed (this sh*t matters!)."

Smith continues: "The storefront, which we launched alongside Season of Opulence is the first part of the strategic shift we're making with MTX. The decision to run old content in Bright Engrams instead of making new Bright Engrams is another part of the shift. We want to believe that our players would rather just buy things they like from the store."

Basically, the Eververse store has become a very viable avenue of funding for Bungie. As such, the developer is looking to promote the store more than ever, but again, this has come as something of a shock to a lot of players. The store will soon be promoted directly on Destiny 2's location select screen, so you don't even have to go to the Tower in order to use it.

Smith concludes by reiterating that Bungie wants to keep the Eververse a cosmetic-only shop. "We are continuing to try and separate capability/gameplay from vanity," he writes. It's well worth reading the full blog post if you want all the details.

What do you make of all this? Did you expect the microtransactions in Destiny 2 to disappear along with Activision's departure? Are you okay with microtransactions if they help fund future content? Give us a sit rep in the comments section below.

[source bungie.net, via destructoid.com]