For those players that don’t mind paying extra for game they’ve already bought in full, Bungie has you covered. Their microtransactions allow you to spend more money on a game you’ve already bought multiple expansions for, and get new emotes for your character.
CEO Eric Hirshberg is claiming that these microstransactions, which are just a way to get more of your money, are “already co-existing” with the expansions released with Destiny. (via Gamespot)
“I think they’re already co-existing, […] We had a full year of expansions to the game that have been very well received and sold quite well. More recently, you’ve seen us introduce smaller, in-game purchases that allow people to customize their experience and express themselves; those have been very well received and have sold well also. I think we’ve already shown that DLC and microtransactions can co-exist and that our community is hungry for more great content.”
A community hungry for more great content is completely believable, as most fans of any MMO game just want to keep playing. However, from the stand point of a consumer it isn’t fair to ask us to purchase more to get access to extras.
Destiny is not a free to play model, with the base game costing 24.99, and The Taken King costing $69.99. This does not include the other two DLC packs released for the game, which at its cheapest is $34.99. This brings the total of Destiny well above $100, and for those buying everything on release it most likely cost much more.
Bungie, on top of making Destiny expensive to play as is, adds in microtransactions for players with more cash to burn through. It is a great model for a company who wants to make money, but for the player its a little more then lacking.