Bungie defends Destiny: The Taken King's £/$40 price tag (Eurogamer)

Vashetti

Banned
The Taken King expansion will launch in three different packages when it arrives this 15th September. It will be a £39.99 digital download for players who own the game and existing DLC already or a disc-based £54.99 Legendary Edition which also contains the base Destiny game and existing DLC so new players can get all of the game's content in one package.

Then there's also The Taken King: Collector's Edition, which costs £79.99. This contains a number of physical collectibles and several pieces of exclusive in-game content, including three class-specific emotes and exotic weapons with XP boosts.

Eurogamer: So it may seem like a small thing but you're adding exclusive content to the game - three new dance emotes - that players can't get unless they rebuy the main game and the two existing DLCs. Is that right?

Luke Smith: "There is no way right now for you to get the new dance emotes without doing that. Those are Collector's Edition exclusive. We've set some stuff aside for that edition specifically to really make it appeal to fans who have engaged with the game already and also to people that will enter the game this autumn.

Can you see that some fans are confused that you're asking them to buy stuff they already own?

"Yeah, I can totally empathise with those people. But the Collector's Edition is a pretty cool package for people who want to pursue that stuff. Otherwise, surely what you're saying is that you would want to buy them separately, right?"

Well, yeah. I would rather do that - pay a few pounds or dollars or whatever - than spend money on things I already own.

"Well, we have nothing more to talk about regarding your opportunity to spend extra money in Destiny, other than The Taken King and the three versions we've announced."

Taken King costs £39.99, which is almost same as base game. Does its content justify that?

"I'm going to use American dollars, because British pounds are just foreign to me..."

Literally foreign.

"Indeed, an ocean away. So, purchasers get a big, rich campaign. Fully voiced cinematics and the story of what happens when an angry alien god wages war on a solar system, all with a satisfying conclusion. You also have a new subclass to pursue and unlock. We also have a bunch of new strikes - we're not yet talking about how many - and a new raid. We're showing two new PVP modes and four PVP maps this week, and it's a fairly safe bet we're not done yet showing things off. So I'm fairly excited about the value proposition. We're calling this a major expansion because it is. We're giving people a whole new place to go, that new destination..."

I get that it is big but it is also the same price as the base game. That had four areas rather than one and more missions than the Taken King. Why is it the same price?

"All I can do is answer that with the same thing I just gave you... We're really comfortable with the value we're giving to players this autumn. I believe that once we begin to share more, players will be even more excited. And for existing players it also comes with the Founder's pack with a new Sparrow, shader and emblem."

Much more:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-king-director-defends-40-expansion-price-tag
 
They literally did nothing to attempt to defend exclusive content for those who rebuy the game.

wow

Edit: And the defense for the actual pack's price isn't great either. You can really tell that Activision forced their hand on this one.

Embarassing really. The guy sounds like a complete tool.
He sounds like someone who regrets switching Microsoft out for Activision.
 
I think the problem here is that the Season Pass was lackluster that it makes Taken King look like it has little value even though it might have a lot more content than what was in the Season Pass.
 

dorkkaos

Member
I've never had a problem with the price tag. I'm sure it's gonna be worth the purchase. I think the one thing most have problems with is the fact that to get the collector's edition stuff, we have to rebuy the base game and the dlc. Why can't we have the option to buy the collector's edition with ONLY the Taken King content? It seems very anti-consumer and I feel betrayed for having supported it when it was first released.
 

Anoregon

The flight plan I just filed with the agency list me, my men, Dr. Pavel here. But only one of you!
"we're comfortable charging people whatever we want for shit that we know they are going to buy."

Well, yeah.

Since I'm locked out of the $40 version anyway (Dark Below is not a worthwhile purchase for me) I'll just wait until the $60 version is available for $40 or less on black friday, assuming it ends up being worth the purchase.
 

MrS

Banned
Wait, does it cost $40, or £40?

Please tell me it's not both. Please.
You bet your ass it's both.

I like Destiny but there's no way I'm dropping £40 on what I believe is only going to be a small expansion - it's certainly not going to be as big as the game I got for £40 at launch.
 

Magwik

Banned
Why couldn't they just sell a CE without the actual game like Wolfenstein did? Seems simple enough to me. $40 CE and $40 TTK. Boom done.
 

Nokterian

Member
fuckyougivememoney.gif
 

Pudge

Member
"We've set some stuff aside for that edition specifically to really make it appeal to fans who have engaged with the game already"

Translation: We've put a tiny bit of content in this package so that our hardcore fans will want to spend more money on this game or feel that they're being left out of things in this game that is all about collecting things.

Fuck. That.
 

LAA

Member
Ha ha. I knew it was going to get good from the title. $40 = £40 wtf!
Pretty shameful of Bungie really. Despite the logic stated, they believe a smaller content dlc is equivalent to the base games content and of course no sympathy for those who want the content but don't want to buy what they already have, and rightly so.
What happened to bungie :(.
Hopefully taken king will be good, but their pricing, and frankly ignorance/arrogance to the criticisms of thie game/dlc really puts me off them.
 

Lirrik

Member
$40 for another reskin and a big fat "thank you" to existing players?

I wonder if it's Bungie or Activision responsible for this embarrassment.
 

ironcreed

Banned
Bungie? Oh yeah, those guys that used to be great back when they made Halo. *end sarcasm*

I kind of sopped caring and forgot about them after playing Destiny.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
"Well, we have nothing more to talk about regarding your opportunity to spend extra money in Destiny, other than The Taken King and the three versions we've announced."

Holy Shit lol.
 

joecanada

Member
I'm confused, I bought the LE for 99 bucks, and when I went to the store this still said 39 dollars....

.... they seriously want me to pay again after buying the LE?
 
They literally did nothing to attempt to defend exclusive content for those who rebuy the game.

wow

Well...he sort of implies that you might be able to buy them separately down the line. I don't know how I feel about the introduction of those kinds of microtransactions for Destiny though. Then again, as long as it's cosmetic shit like that, it's ignorable.
 

GreyWind

Member
Here in Canada we have to pay almost $90 for the new standalone expansion disc, haven't checked the digital version yet. WTF.
 
....This whole interview just means I need to wait until Destiny 2.5 comes out so I do not get screwed over by buying anything from Bungie Day 1...

Seriously, screwing over the people who bought day one just to get more money from those who didn't jump on your game?
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Because fuck you give me money basically

No, actually, that's not what they said. They are defending the price on the basis of the amount of content they are putting in.

The big problem is, they announced the price and did not announce much detail on the scope of the content. We have a sense that it's big, much bigger than the two prior expansions, but beyond that, we just don't know how to stack it up against the scope of the expansion. I'd have either announced a general list to help provide some sense of the scope (X strikes, Y MP maps/modes, Z story missions, etc), or held off on announcing the price until they felt more comfortable doing so.

Right now we're in this odd place where we know the price, but not the package that price entails, and so they have to defend it without being specific, which is rather awkward.
 

dofry

That's "Dr." dofry to you.
Shader and emblem are like Day One achievement. Nothing.

Price also sounds awfullu high.

But, I do like Destiny even though I haven't played it for a while. Lets see when it's out and see howit actually is.
 

Omadahl

Banned
Well, you see. We've built up a fanbase that will pretty much buy whatever the hell we tell them to so we'll charge whatever we like. If you don't like, you can suck it.

Suck it!
 
Anyone wbo buys this is basically trying to get the game industry to crash.

I wonder how many Destiny players take the piss out of mobile.
 

Kemal86

Member
1UP Yours-era Luke Smith would have eviscerated this bullshit cash grab that fucks over the most dedicated Destiny players instead of rewarding them. There's literally no reason to not offer a Digita Taken King Collectors Edition for $50 that includes just The Taken King and all the digital goodies.

....still gonna buy it though.
 

KorrZ

Member
So, they got non-stop complaints about the huge lack of content for the $60 base game, and decide to now sell you 1/4th of the content for almost the same price.

These guys are fucking shameless.
 
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