Destiny 2 Is Going Free-to-Play and Coming to Steam

[Tsing]

Engadget accidentally hit the publish button early and leaked some pretty big news on Bungie’s online-only multiplayer shooter. While new content will continue to cost money, the core game (year-one content) will reportedly be renamed “Destiny 2: First Light” and be free to play.

Destiny 2 is also leaving Battle.net and coming to Steam and Google Stadia. Xbox and PC players are getting a cross-save feature that allows them to access the same characters, and there will be no more console-exclusive content.

Leaks suggested this cash-free Destiny experience would go live alongside Shadowkeep’s launch on September 27. But we’ve spotted that the base game and year one expansions are no longer available for purchase on Xbox Live or PSN. Whether this means a free launch is imminent or precautions ahead of Shadowkeep preorders likely going live later today.

 

[Dan_D]

I think this is a good move. It seemed to bring tons of players in when they gave the base game away for free minus the expansions last Thanksgiving when I started playing it. There were tons of new players running around in it. Long time players I know hadn't seen it so busy in awhile. I and virtually all my remaining non-Destiny 2 players at the time bought the game and the annual pass after playing the base game for free.

Not to mention, this puts the game on Steam instead of Battle.NET. Forsaken includes Warmind and the Curse of Osiris. Add the annual pass content, and the base game seems like less than half the experience.

 

[Brian_B]

The death bell has rung.

 

[Dan_D]

The death bell has rung.

Hardly. They announced a new expansion, a move to Steam, and talked about the changes coming to Destiny 2. The part that's F2P, will be anything that's pre-Forsaken, with free roam and no lockouts so new players can go anywhere and do most of the activities with their friends. Anything year one will be free. Anything year 2 and beyond will still cost money.

Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Expansion Official Reveal Trailer
Bungie Out of the Shadows ViDoc - Showcases all that's coming in Year 3.

 

[Dudhunter]

This is the right move and shows the cracks in the outdated mega-conglomerate publisher model. With the similarity in PS5, NeXtBox and AMD PC GPUs I think crossplay and self publishing attempts are going to receive a major tailwind over the next decade.

 

[Brian_B]

Hardly.

Maybe. In the MMO world, the move from sub or B2P to F2P usually is the beginning of the end. You get a bump in population for a short time, and the company will tout a huge increase in the number of new accounts and such. But it's usually followed by the original players leaving as the community changes, not many of the new F2P players sticking around for long, and it doesn't typically result in any more cash for the publisher.

If you want to consider Destiny 2 as a MMO (and by many accounts, it qualifies as well as some other games that sell themselves as MMOs do), then I think it wouls have originally been considered B2P (similar to GW2).

 

[Dan_D]

Going F2P was the best thing that could have happened to Star Wars: The Old Republic. Destiny 2 may share things in common with MMOs, but it isn't an MMO in the strictest sense of the term. Its far more accessible than MMO's tend to be.

As I said, its a good way to get more players and get people to buy the content. It worked on me back around Thanksgiving of last year. I played the game and enjoyed it immensely. I quickly hit the level cap and wanted more content, so I went ahead and bought the game. Between Forsaken and the Annual pass, I'm $80 into my free game. That's what Bungie is looking to do with this move.

It's worth noting that there are huge changes coming to the game and you don't invest that kind of time and cash into something that's on life support. There seems to be a healthy community of dedicated players for the game including streamers and people working towards world first raid clears and what not. Dying games don't get that kind of attention.

I think the big problem is that Activision didn't want Bungie to go the direction it wanted to with the game and the series as a whole. Now that Bungie is on its own, that's changing.

 

[Azrak]

Same here. Played the free game to the end and enjoyed it a lot. Bought Forsaken and I think the annual pass. But I have not played recently. Too busy with other stuff.