Looking at the Big Picture
Destiny 2 Forsaken is set to release on September 4th, bringing a huge injection of content with some needed improvements. The news of its price tag left many players upset at the prospect of paying for fixes that should have been there from the start. It turns out however, that isn’t true. Lets break down the numbers and facts.
For context, we need to examine the launch of Destiny 2, where the base game cost the usual $59. Then, it featured a season pass for an additional $35. The expansion pass included access to Expansion I: Curse of Osiris, and Expansion II: Warmind. You could have saved $5 by purchasing the digital deluxe edition of the game, which included some extra bonuses in addition to the pass.
The post-release paid DLC model has always had mixed reception by gamers, but in the case of Destiny, it’s historically met with negativity. The campaigns of the expansions are the most criticized for appearing lazy or incoherent in their storytelling, not to mention the lackluster amount of new content. These smaller expansions are usually the product of limited development times. Now we have Forsaken, a $40 expansion which seems to be of identical scope to Destiny 1’s The Taken King, an equivalent major expansion that kicked off that game’s second year.
The Taken King was credited with saving Destiny. It brought major overhauls to the core of the game and featured a cinematic campaign with a cohesive narrative, something Destiny 1 did not have at launch. With a similar climate around Destiny 2, Forsaken is in a good place to help usher in needed improvements for Destiny 2. At the very least, we can see that it’ll feature a campaign with a compelling narrative. The difference this time around is the availability of a new Annual Pass. This is similar to the expansion pass of year 1, yet seems to be more worthwhile. Similarly priced compared to the expansion pass at $35, it will now provide 3 separate content releases that will be more focused on end-game activities, gear, and added progression. Below is a chart created by Bungie to illustrate what is included.
This brings the total price to $70, and $80 for the deluxe edition. Keep in mind that this doesn’t include the base game and the first season pass, which are required to play. Bungie has mentioned that they will offer versions of the game that are content complete for those diving in fresh, but we don’t have any details on that at this time.
My guess is that it will sport a $100 price tag, essentially pricing the base game and the first season pass at $20, which wouldn’t be dissimilar to how it worked out with Destiny 1 During The Taken King‘s release. It is likely that Bungie is holding back on revealing these versions until the last possible moment so that purchasers of the recently released Warmind expansion, which sported its own $20 tag, won’t get as upset. Unfortunately, Bungie has no real out here, the price will make headlines either way.
It’s important to clarify that the major fixes coming in the fall are arriving in the 2.0 update which is free to all players. The only thing players will need to pay for is the additional content. If you don’t want to pay or are unsure, you don’t have to. You can log in September 4th and experience Destiny 2 all over again, with improved systems and economies. You can think of it as a Destiny 2 reboot. If you like what you see and want to experience new content with those revamped systems, then you can make your purchase.
Throwing Money at The Screen
As previously mentioned, The Taken King didn’t have any content after its initial release. Most players got through all of the new content in about a month. That gave us a 6 month window without anything new, and it hurt.
I would have gladly paid for more Destiny 1 content. I would have easily tossed up $30 more if it would have brought more content to Destiny 1 year 2. However, that’s only because I’m the position to do so. I value Destiny content highly enough to prioritize it in my life. I played 1610 hours of Destiny 1, and enjoyed most of my time playing. So personally, it was well worth the price tag. It became a hobby, and I started a YouTube channel to focus my passion into something productive. However, not everyone is able to pay extra.
So the question arises; should Bungie continue charging us for the annual passes? Is it worth the confusion and fragmentation of its player base? The answer is a resounding no. Even from me. Someone who has paid for multiple copies of the game, and publishes Destiny content.
The annual pass should be free. Time and time again it proves not be worth the negative press and player disdain. It comes off as greedy, whether the cost is justified or not. There are other ways for Bungie to make additional income to sustain development costs, and if done correctly, they can make up the difference and more. Bungie will always have an uphill battle with pricing until they can prove the content to be beyond worthy. They have a chance to do that over this next year. The ball is in their court, and we’ll see what they do with it.
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