Destiny 2 is already one of the most heavily monetized games in the industry despite being a free-to-play game which we all know really means free to try. 

Destiny 2 is already a subscription game, and if you have a pair of eyeballs you know that to be true.

Last month during December, it was “leaked” by dataminers that they had discovered plans for a subscription service in Destiny 2, primarily starting with Lightfall.

This idea angered a lot of Destiny players rightfully so, although there were still some people out there defending  the idea because of course there was.

Destiny 2 is already one of the most heavily monetized games in the industry despite being a free-to-play game which we all know really means free to try.

It’s basically a demo. Destiny 2 Expansions
remain a premium purchase. And on top of that

there’s Annual Passes, Season Passes, Dungeon
Keys, Anniversary Packs, The Forsaken Pack,

The Eververse Cash Shop full of armor and
ornaments, as well as Transmog materials.

And more recently, Holiday Events with their own
battle passes. Bungie has been pushing the limit

each year with their monetization practices and
raising the prices each subsequent year, so the

idea that Bungie would be adding another
layer of Monetization with a subscription

model wasn’t completely inconceivable.
However, this “leak” was revealed just a

few days later to have been fake and was the work
of some trolls trying to upset the community.
Now what surprises me about this whole
situation is how many people there were

saying they would up and quit the game if Bungie
implemented a subscription service to the game.
But it already is a subscription game. We could
go back further, but lets just go back to Beyond

Light’s year. $70 dollars for the Beyond Light
Deluxe Edition which included the Expansion and

the 4 seasons that followed. A separate $25
dollar purchase was required for the 30th

anniversary pack. Which totals to 95 dollars for
Beyond Light’s year of content. Which dividing

by 12 will get you the subscription cost of $7.92
per month. About 8 dollars a month which could get

you a subscription to Disney Plus, Hulu, Netflix,
or I guess now Twitter Blue. Just because Bungie

doesn’t charge you monthly, doesn’t mean that
you can’t break down the cost it is to play

this games content by the month. So. 8 bucks a
month for Beyond Light’s Year. Applying the same

math to Witch Queen’s Year, it’s $6.67. Because
there isn’t an anniversary pack this year so

it’s a bit cheaper. However Lightfall’s year
is looking to be $8.33 since it’s $100 dollars

for all the content, that we know of so far.
Now whether you believe that’s a fair price to

pay is totally up to you. But trying to make the
case that Destiny 2 isn’t a monthly subscription

is a hard case to make. Just like Xbox Live Gold
or Playstation Plus. Paying monthly or all at once

for the year doesn’t mean it isn’t a subscription.
However with Xbox Live and PSPlus you save

quite a bit of money when you buy it yearly
rather than monthly. Whereas with Destiny 2,

you’re saving only 10 bucks if you get the
Deluxe editions. Now most of the playerbase

that buys these Deluxe Editions are no stranger
to spending even more money at Eververse. Dropping

$15 dollars for armor sets on the regular. Or
ornaments for their new exotics to show off.
Which leads me to the conclusion that even if
Bungie did implement another subscription model

on top of their current monetization model, I
don’t think players would up and quit the game

like so many of them claim they would do. Because
throughout the history of this game, especially

since 2020, we’ve seen players continue to stick
with the game despite Bungie continually making

decisions that are unfriendly to the consumer.
From Content Vaulting, to Sunsetting. Transmog,

to $15 dollar armor glows. Dungeon Keys and Event
Battle Passes. The Playerbase may complain a bit

at first, but ultimately most of them continue
to play the game and either ignore the problems,

or just give in to the monetization so they
don’t miss out on getting all the items.
Now a subscription model being added will likely
lead to a few players dropping off, just like some

players dropped off because of the aforementioned
monetization practices. But realistically,

the dedicated fans of this game would have no
problem just giving in and letting it slide.
If there’s anything we’ve learned about Bungie
over the last few years, is they will find a way

to monetize ANYTHING and EVERTHING if they
can. Even Quality of Life improvements like

Transmog which is free in many other games.
Looking back at some discussions even during

Destiny 1, one creator in particular pointed
out and predicted the path Bungie would go

down and the precedent they would set
for the future of the gaming industry.
Regardless of how you feel about BDobbins, he
was 100% correct about Bungie and where the

Industry was heading. We can see exactly how The
Destiny franchise has already successfully set

this precedent which is why we’ve seen virtually
all franchises over the last few years continue to

provide less and less content. Call of Duty Games
have less modes, maps, and overall content than

they did during the cods during the golden age.
Yet they have infinitely more cosmetics, camos,

charms, and skins than ever before because $$$$$
Halo Infinite shipped with maybe a fifth of the

amount of content that Halo Reach despite being
developed in 6 years where reach was developed

in 1 year. A progression system that was terrible
for the player, but was great for Microsoft

because it was designed with money in mind $$$$
and going back to Bungie themselves we see that

each expansion released has far less content
than previous expansions because they’ve found

a way to mass produce easy low quality content and
skip out on developing content that requires more

effort and creativity because $$$$ and they’ve
successfully convinced thousands of players that

this is all a good thing. And they’ve cultivated
a fanbase that jumps to the defense of Bungie

at every turn to defend these scummy business
practices that are designed to exploit them and

siphon as much money from them as possible. It’s
genius actually. Bungie and their head designers

are smart. The same way the creators of some
of these mobile games are smart. They aren’t

focused on making a quality product, they are
focused on making as much money as possible by

spending as little money as possible.
Cutting costs is exactly the type of way

Bungie has increased their profits. Most notably
in way of reusing so many assets. For example,

a lot of Seasonal content revolves
around visiting old areas, or reusing

vaulted assets. The storylines revolve around the
same storylines that keep randomly coming back up

into relevance. Not because they were inspired to
create another Rasputin Warmind Themed release,

but because that was an easy and cheap option
with a bunch of assets and foundational story

elements that already existed. They’ve
cut costs by replacing expensive voice

actors for cheaper ones. They’ve cut costs
by bringing forward old Destiny 1 weapons

and armor models as it eliminates one
element of the designing process.
Now I won’t ignore the good content in Destiny
2 because beneath all low effort drivel,

there is some great stuff. Namely the raids
and dungeons. Some players are willing to

sift through the mountains of fecal matter to
get to the occasional peak. Others take notice

and realize exactly what it Destiny 2 is.
People often wonder why I bother criticizing

Bungie and the gaming industry today as
a whole. And it’s for one simple reason.

Critique the media that you love, because when
you stop demanding as the paying customer,

then companies can continue to take advantage
of you and deliver a bad product. Another recent

example is the Pokemon company which is the
HIGHEST grossing media franchise in existence,

bigger than ever Disney. For them to put out a
product like Scarlet and Violet is unacceptable.

Whether you like the game or not, you should not
settle for the bare minimum. You deserve better

than this for your $60 dollars. You the consumer
are in control. Whether a company survives rests

on your shoulders. Demand more from them because
as the paying customer you are entitled to a good

product. I’ve never understood the mindset
that so many people have fallen into lately.

Those that spew the idea that gamers are
entitled as if that’s a negative. Like yeah,

it’s my money. Damn right the product should live
up to dollar amount. The company is not entitled

to my money. They have to earn it. Somehow
this idea has become twisted over the years.
That’s all I’ve got for this video. Like if
you agree, dislike if you don’t. Subscribe for

more content just like this. And I’ll
see you guys in the next one.