One of the most difficult questions within the games industry, and indeed within capitalism as a whole, is how much something is worth. It’s a seemingly endless debate, with some games considered too expensive for what they offer, the disparity – particularly in the UK – between prices in stores, online and digitally, and the eternal problem of pricing DLC content to make it attractive to potential buyers.
Destiny is no stranger to this issue, and at launch there were already complaints about the amount of content in the main game, which has since been compounded by the perceived value of what has been released within the two expansion packs since. Admittedly, the value of Destiny is an oddity, when it is still played day-in, day-out despite the criticisms regarding its repetitive nature.
With the reveal of The Taken King, the start of the game’s second year of content, and it’s price point of $40 – twice that of The Dark Below or House of Wolves individually, but with much more content included – that argument has reared its head once more.
In particular, an interview between The Taken King’s Creative Director Luke Smith and Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips revolved around this issue of value, both over the DLC’s outright price as well as the minor pieces of content being made exclusive to collector’s editions, which will also include the original game and the first two expansions whether you want them or not.
Speaking about that exclusive content, Smith eventually admitted that “It’s about value. The player’s assessment of the value of the content.” For those that have already bought the game in the US and its two expansions – let’s use US dollars for the time being – the current running total would likely be $95, with $60 for the base game and $35 for a DLC season pass. Suddenly, by having The Taken King on its own cost $40 and the ‘Legendary Edition’ cost $60 while also including all the previous content, it creates a situation where the value of Destiny and its expansions has shifted even more dramatically than with a typical Game of the Year edition release.
Of course, from a business standpoint, Activision and Bungie are caught in a difficult position. There’s clearly a lot more content in The Taken King than there was in either The Dark Below or House of Wolves, and it may well be comparable to them combined to justify such a price point, but Destiny is effectively an MMORPG by another name, and without subscription fees to sustain it, it needs both regular players who gleefully consume a steady stream of paid expansions and regular stepping on points for newcomers to the game.
The Taken King and its bundles offer such an entry point, but it means that new players can’t be faced with a daunting starting price, which is how we end up with the Legendary Edition costing the same as a brand new game in the US. The inclusion of some exclusive pre-order emotes and cosmetic items ought to be the icing on the cake to draw people in and make them feel special.
However, what so many people have taken umbrage with, as a lot of annoyance has been incredibly visible within the Destiny community on Reddit and Bungie’s forums, is the way in which Smith seems to take the dedication and desires of their fanbase in vain. Personally, I see this as a relatively convivial conversation between two people who are obviously passionate and invested in the game, where, referring to exclusive cosmetic content for the various special edition bundles, he says that “If I fired up a video right now and showed you the emotes you would throw money at the screen.”
Though deciphering the tone of plain text is always difficult, I feel that he was joking at this point, and Phillips has since tweeted as much. In a day and age where DLC pervades even the simplest of game releases, with rival retailers touting exclusive game content and an often confusing menagerie of DLC regardless, and it all too regularly feels extortionate. Even with a jocular tone, having these exclusive cosmetic items and acknowledging that some people will pay over the odds falls into that bracket, akin to your ISP or bank reserving its best deals and offers for new customers only. It’s a feeling that can be most vexing.
Yet there is another layer to this which has remained largely on the periphery of the discussion, and stems from a more British point of view. A major issue comes from the fact that The Taken King’s release will persist with a $1:€1:£1 exchange rate, which devalues the pound sterling far beyond what we typically see – $39.99 when converted to GBP and then with VAT added tends to hover around £30-33, but to accommodate currency fluctuations and parity with the Euro, will typically end up at £34.99 on the PlayStation Store.
It’s something that is seen elsewhere with more and more regularity – Apple Music is another recent purveyor of this – but it feels all the more galling when the value is being called into question regardless of the currency involved. The simple fact of the matter is that UK gamers are paying over the odds and there’s no logical reason for this to be the case.
Unfortunately, this is another in a catalogue of instances where it feels like Bungie have lost touch with their fanbase or simply defied common sense. Making games is an incredibly difficult process and developers can’t ever hope to get everything right, but at launch Destiny got a lot of things wrong, despite having the compulsive gameplay that has managed to keep so many people hooked.
It has since evolved so that you don’t need to endlessly farm the various locations for materials, so that engrams more reliably give you who you might reasonably expect them to contain, and they’ve sensibly stepped away from the disasterous upgrade systems introduced in The Dark Below. Indeed, with House of Wolves’ launch and The Taken King’s initial reveal, it felt as though Bungie were now on the right track.
Instead, the matter of price and Smith’s comments made in jest have backfired and Bungie have to pick up the pieces. Again. Bungie’s Community Manager, DeeJ, was quick to respond on Reddit, saying, “Please know that we’re reading this feedback and taking it as seriously – as we always do,” and  continuing that he will “[defer] to the Bungie Weekly Update, in which we’ll talk more about the things we’re doing to celebrate the year-one Guardians who helped us build this community.”
Whether this will be a hastily put together promise of new dance routines for first year players or something a little more meaningful and thought out, we don’t know, but it’s almost certain that Bungie and Activision won’t be breaking out an abacus to recalculate their exchange rates any time soon.
ashw92
“It’s a feeling that can be most vexing.” I see what you did there.
As a day one player who still plays everyday it is all a little disappointing. Some of Luke Smith’s comments were appalling and have made a less than ideal situation a whole load worse. I don’t have a problem paying £40 for the expansion, I’m certainly getting a hell of a good deal in terms of price per hour of play but locking things away, even things as silly as cosmetic items, for a special edition that only makes sense to new players is just silly.
I hope that the Bungie Weekly Update addresses this in a good way or they could end up with a much more disgruntled player base.
colmshan1990
I have to ask- do Bungie even set the price?
Are they taking the blame which should be sent Activision’s way here, or do they actually get to choose the pricing and bundles the game is sold with?
Stefan L
Bungie will certainly have some input along the way, if not necessarily the absolute final say over what the price is. However, it should also be noted that when it comes to Call of Duty, their season passes and DLC packs don’t follow the $1:£1 ratio.
nightdc
It makes me sick they can charge what they want £40 is a retail game price these days all this for dlc that dosen’t even have any new worlds just new missions on the same old crap.
Count me out I bought the season pass with the game as I am sure others did you watch ever one go up yours and boycote it.
I for one definitly will and I have played since the beta.
Lieutenant Fatman
To me, Bungie shows itself as being one of the most greedy companies in video games, caring little for giving its fans a fair deal, and prioritising high end profits above all else.
They could learn a few things from CD Projekt Red. Bungie will not be getting a single penny out of me, I refuse to support such disingenuous people. I read the interview and was and still am disgusted. I think the interviewer did a good job and should be commended.
colmshan1990
CD Projekt Red are publishers as well as developers though.
Bungie are contracted to Activision (who have a history of poor pricing decisions and milking of franchises). And as Activision are publishing, I’m guessing Activision are setting the price. They invested $500m in Destiny between development costs and marketing, now they’re cashing in by gouging their customers.
Lieutenant Fatman
Activision have a poor history, this is true, but Bungie were well aware of this and yet they still made the decision to work with them. To me that shows they have similar values. Regardless, I want nothing to do with them, they’ve made it quite clear what is most important to them.
DJ Judas
They are in a position where their userbase consists of people who play the game daily, and those that haven’t given up or got bored of it yet at this point are not likely to. It’s probably their go-to game and have lots of friends who do the same, and are part of a community. It’s easy to exploit this because there will be an all or nothing response from the userbase, and the price has been pushed as far as they dare so as to not illicit the “nothing” response.
What’s unfortunate is that the exploitation is of a loyal userbase who, if they want to keep up with and maintain their part in the game’s community due to the way these expansions are structured through levels and loot, need to pony up the cash.
Destiny feels like the spoilt and deeply cynical grandchild of a classic MMORPG: We’ll remove the monthly fee, but instead craft a much smaller world and entice people to play the same thing again and again, and drop continual repetitive content at a high price until we release the sequel. In this way the whole ting is actually very clever, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing.
Lieutenant Fatman
Indeed, you’re right, it is very clever. They will be making a fortune I expect, they should be bankers.
MrYd
Actually, it sounds like kind of a bargain to me. I can possibly get a few quid for my old copy of the game, buy the new version and get the new DLC and both the old bits of DLC which were stupidly overpriced in the first place.
And wait a couple of months until the price drops and effectively get the first 2 expansions for free.
All the moaning about it seems to be coming from people who made a bad decision to buy the first pair of overpriced DLC and are regretting it now. But that always happens. Buy all the DLC when it’s released, or wait and get it all for less bundled with the original game. If you can’t wait for that, don’t moan about it later. I’ve done the same in the past.
Kennykazey
Yeah, who gives a crap about the most loyal customers as long as your not one of them!
Come on now.
Forrest_01
Fortunately, this doesn’t really affect me now because as much as it pains me to say it, I have unfortunately had to quit Destiny. It’s back in it’s box for the first time since September. Sick to death of the disappointment of being locked out of the content that is of value to me (i.e. the new DLC stuff that I bought in good faith back last year).
I didn’t want to quit (& in fact, it has been a bit like going through a bad breakup), but I felt somewhat forced to as I am sick of getting on & hoping to get something useful done, but then effectively being on the outside looking in whilst others rifle through the new content.
Can’t play it by myself, so can’t actually play it at all.
Lieutenant Fatman
It’s harsh, but better you realise this now rather than later. They intend for this Destiny cash cow to carry on for ten years, and I have a feeling it’s only going to get worse.
Forrest_01
I should point out here that no realisation took place other than the fact that people have now generally teamed up into their threes, leaving me on the outskirts.
There was no mystical revelation about price, content etc, as I have been perfectly happy with that up until now – I just have no-one to play with since the DLC & it’s insistence on fireteam based content, as every time I get on people are already teamed up & doing stuff.
I have gotten plenty of value of out Destiny for what I have played to this point, I just wont get the value out of the latest DLC as I have no-one to play it with.
Stefan L
Forrest, we’re all just doing things on the fly really. It sounds like you’ve hung up your boots for good, but I’m sure I said that you ought to just send a message ahead of time or give people a shout on Twitter (which you keep forgetting exists), and you’ll have much more luck finding a fireteam.
Forrest_01
I appreciate that Tef (thanks for the response too), but the trouble is that aside from a little time on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, my time is pretty much dictated by life (read: wife), so it’s a little difficult to know exactly when that’s going to be.
Main issue is that Tuesdays are reset day, so people generally want to do nightfalls etc. That’s fine of course, but they hold little value to me these days. When I get on the rest of the time, people are generally already busy doing stuff, so no room for little ol’ me.
It just got to a point on the weekend when I got on full of hope & the joys of spring & saw there were 10 people playing (one of which being me of course) – 3 doing Trials, 6 doing prison. So I run around & do some bounties for a while (which hold zero value to me due to having nothing to upgrade) purely so that I am available, but after around an hour & a half has passed & people are still doing the same things, I have to question what I have actually just spent my time doing & whether it held any actual value to me.
It’s my issue though (albeit ultimately one of Bungie’s creation) & am not trying to apportion blame anywhere else (so apologies if it came across that way). It’s just a bit disappointing is all.
bladesew
Hi mate – know what you mean but most of the clan will be up for joining up when time allows and if they know someone is waiting. So joining the usual parties and just letting people know would do the trick. It is a pain that the new 3 people activities have made it harder and I also have stepped out for the last couple of weeks. Anyway, if I’m online msg me and I’d be up for some prison or trials even if I’m playing something else. I’m online playing something a lot of the time until uni starts in Sept.
psn id: razordude
Forrest_01
Haha, I’m glad you put your PSN down at the end, as at first I thought you may have been some random dude offering to put me into a new clan etc! Hadn’t made any correlation between your TSA name & your PSN name (is there one?), so sorry about that! :)
I suppose what it comes down to is that it’s probably going to take a whole lot of arranging for me to get stuff done – Almost akin to setting up a meet or similar, which seems a bit weird considering you only need three players. But then again, if everyone else that is on is all teamed up into their threes already, there seems to be no other way around it. I think what makes it worse is that the 6 man raids seemed like a bigger stumbling block to begin with, yet I could successfully get into those with a certain regularity when they were the only real end game content. Presumably though, it’s easier to be the person to fill a 6th space than it is a 3rd.
If a way can be found, then I am happy to continue playing as I do still love the game (& this wasn’t intended as a ‘toys out of the pram’ moment, more of a sensible decision so that I wasn’t continually running around doing stuff of no value to me) – I just didn’t relish the thought of having to go find a new fireteam via lfg or whatever & get to know new people & how they play just for this. I’m getting old now & randoms scare me. ;)
bladesew
I have the feeling that, like the DLC up until now, the story mode will last at most a few hours. At the moment the game consists of reforging weapons and grinding for those few exotics you don’t have. Then you play the same stuff over and over to earn etheric light to expand your loadout options to make it easier to replay the same stuff again. This would be fine in a F2P like Warframe but it’s difficult not to feel shortchanged in a paid game. I’ve started playing the other games I picked up over the last few months and that’s not going to change anytime soon with Batman, etc coming out.
Starman
He knows people are hooked and will pay anyway, his attitude in the interview confirms as much.
bunimomike
The first part of your sentence is everything. People need to think about it like this. Football. Done.*
*New kit is bought as you support your team fervently. Possibly pay for Sky too so you can follow them when you can’t make the games in person.
It truly staggers me as to how much money people are willing to throw at stuff like this but it’s something I’ve long accepted. Bungie can see that and the milking bucket is seeing some serious action.
I’m ignoring the fu**-up in communications as that doesn’t change the fundamental nature of said cash cow. :-)
Starman
Your football analogy is spot on, they know people are fans and will pay what they ask, especially when their aren’t any other options to see it.
If Destiny hadn’t sold well there’s no way they would try get so much for the expansions.
sshaunss
How have they not had a law suit filed against them
Yet for blatant false advertising house of wolves with new raid nope no new raid it’ll be out In
September free for people who bought house of
Wolves it isn’t finished yet. Then buy this for £40 there’s the new raid you waited for.
Stefan L
They might have planned to have a raid in HoW internally, but it was never explicitly stated by Bungie that this would be the case. The only place that that notion came from was that TDB featured a raid and the placeholder text that suggested it would was datamined from the game months before the eventual reveal of House of Wolves.
Beyond that, this is the exact statement from HoW’s announcement regarding the next raid, which merely says that a raid is in the works for later in the year, but not that it would be free or otherwise.
“House of Wolves will not have a Raid activity. We didn’t make this decision lightly. Our team has been humbled by the reception of Raids in Destiny and we are creating a new Raid for a release later this year.”