If you’ve been following Bungie’s Destiny, the shared world shooter which recently registered more than 25 million players, you’ll have likely kept track of the new Eververse Trading Company and its microtransactions. Rumours were going around that these microtransactions could mean free content in the future versus paid DLC and the recent Festival of the Lost somewhat fueled that rumour. But would paid expansion packs really be done away with?
As it turns out, no. Activision publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg stated in an earnings call today that “Destiny’s microtransactions and paid expansions are both selling well. As such, Destiny players can expect to see more of both in the future. Not one or the other, but both–and at the same time.
“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.”
As for whether the game would specifically alter its business model to favour microtransactions over paid content, Hirshberg said “As far as any shifts in strategy, I don’t have any announcements today, but I think we have a lot of options at our disposal. And the reason for that of course is that we have such great engagement with this game.”
Things could possibly change down the line but for now? Expect to be dropping another $20 on the next “expansion” when it’s out.
