‘Destiny’ Players Throwing Money At Screens For Emote Microtransactions
Destiny: The Taken King creative director Luke Smith infamously stated that players would throw money at their screen over new dance emotes that were part of the Collector’s Edition. Hey may not have been correct about the emotes in the most expensive edition of the game, but PlayStation and Xbox players have been throwing money at the new microtransaction currency introduced to the game just a couple of weeks ago so they can purchase new dance moves.
First spotted on Reddit, Destiny Silver currently sits in three of the five spots for the Top 5 Add-ons purchased in the PlayStation Store. Destiny: The Taken King sits at number one as of Monday, November 2, followed by three different options for purchasing the microtransation currency for the shooter.
The three different Silver currency purchase options are counted as one on the Xbox Store, but that is still good enough to sit at number three. Only the hot new Gold REQ Packs for Halo 5 and the completely free Battlefield 4: Community Operations map pack are ahead of Destiny microtransactions over the past week.
Here’s an image of the top five add-ons for the PlayStation Store and Xbox Store captured this morning.
Keep in mind that the “2000 (+300 Bonus) Silver” add-on costs $19.99 and the “1000 (+100 Bonus) Silver” costs $9.99. Just 500 Silver costs $4.99. There appears to be a glitch in the PSN Store showing the 2000 Silver option twice when the 500 Silver option is likely in the fourth slot.
Destiny Silver microtransactions were added with the 2.01 update released on October 13 following an announcement the previous week. Bungie hasn’t explicitly stated it yet, but the prevailing thought is the developer is moving the game away from two set DLC releases every year plus a major yearly release and will support Destiny going forward with microtransactions plus a major yearly release. The time in between will be filled with new quests and events.
Guardians have already gotten a taste of the new content supported by Silver microtransactions with the current Festival of the Lost Halloween-esque event, which runs through November 8. It is filled with quests around using masks crafted in-game to perform various tasks, but it is also supported by microtransactions. Players can purchase “Treasure of the Lost” packages with Silver to gain additional items for the event versus collecting them naturally in-game.
The main Silver purchases, based on the number of notifications in the Tower and in activities, are likely the new emotes. Festival of the Lost added the “Zombie Dance” emote, which is a lengthy dance that riffs off of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video.
Destiny players can likely look forward to more new events similar to Festival of the Lost for Christmas and/or New Year’s next. Supporting smaller events like these appears to be both more profitable and easier to handle for Bungie. The question is how frequently Guardians can expect to see significant updates to the game in between the major yearly releases.
These small events are fine. Destiny players will eventually want to see new multiplayer maps, new game types, new storylines, new Strikes, and new Raids, though. Waiting a year for all of this seems out of the question if Bungie wants to keep fans engaged. The studio is feeling its way through the new microtransaction model, however, which means it is also feeling its way through on how much it can support the game. They are off to a good start, though, based on the top five lists from the PlayStation Store and Xbox Store.
Have your thrown any money down for Destiny Silver? Sound off in the comments below.
[Image via Bungie]
