When Destiny came out in 2014 it was literally the most anticipated game of this current generation, then everything began to unravel.
With the reveal that Bungie has now added a trio of ‘macrotransactions’ that will allow players to instantly jump to level 25, Bungie has shown once and for all that they have no heart, no soul, and no respect for their craft. That’s right, you can now create a new character and immediately jump to level 25 for a mere $30(£25 or 30e), or roughly half the cost of the game itself. Never mind the fact it only takes about a day to level a character up to 30, nor the fact you still can not do very much in the game at level 25. Since the launch of Destiny in 2014, nearly every decision Bungie has made regarding their newest mega franchise has come under scrutiny. From the glaring lack of content at launch, the mess of a story, DLC that was both overpriced and clearly cut from original release, to the more recent microtransactions. Bungie has continuously milked gamers to the tune of $135 or more for a game that was no more than a public beta test for the entirety of its first year.
While microtransactions can be good for a smaller, freemium style game found on mobile devices and browsers, they have absolutely no business being used in full cost retail games. Microtransactions in a full retail game are anti-consumer, and anti-gamer. In an interview with IGN in 2013 when asked about the possibility Destiny could add microtransactions, then Bungie Community Manager Eric Osborne said “We’ve not announced anything on the microtransaction front but our goal is to absolutely make sure that when we deliver a game for $60 that’s a great experience no matter what type of player you are. So we’re not looking at any pay-for-power type stuff. That’s what I hear as a player when people say they’re worried about models and schemes that nickel and dime people; we’re not going to do that.”
Yet here we are two years later, with Bungie dipping its toes in the ‘pay for power’ microtransaction pool, charging an insane fee to skip a day of work. Sure, this one item doesn’t exactly tip the balance of power across all of Destiny, but it IS the edge of a very slippery slope that Bungie has been inching towards ever since they first launched Destiny in 2014. If Bungie continues along this path, by this time next year we’ll all be able to purchase Year 3 Gjallerhorns for $15 and level 40 characters with full raid gear for $50.
It saddens me to see how far Bungie has fallen since parting ways with Microsoft and joining the evil empire that is Activision. What was once one of the greatest video game developers on the planet have fallen to a low only Konami could understand.
R.I.P Bungie, we will miss you.