Bungie defends pricing of Destiny's expansion

Since Bungie announced the various packages for Destiny's upcoming expansion, The Taken King, there's been a bit of a backlash from fans, and for a couple of different reasons.

On one hand there's some that are frustrated at the prospect of paying £39.99 / $39.99 for what is effectively an expansion, no matter how "major" it might be. On the other there's players who want content that's included in the Collector's Edition, but who are reluctant to re-buy content that they've already purchased.

In a fascinating interview published over on Eurogamer, Bungie's Luke Smith (he's the creative director on The Taken King) defended the pricing of the expansion, as well as the studio's decision to include desirable content - in this case new dance emotes - in a package that requires players to re-buy things that they already own.

"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."

The site then pointed out that some fans are confused that they're being asked 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?"

Later, during the same interview, the cost of the expansion was also discussed, and this is what Smith had to say:

"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..."

When it was the put to him that the expansion is the same price as the base game, Smith replied:

"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."

The Taken King is heading to Xbox and PlayStation platforms on September 15, and once again those playing on a Sony-made console will be getting exclusive content for Bungie's online shooter.