Destiny Free-To-Play? Maybe That's Not Such A Crazy Idea
You can find articles or blog posts all over the Internet pondering whether this game or that game should go free-to-play. I browse them occasionally -- sometimes for informative purposes and sometimes for entertainment -- but rarely report on them. Today, though, I wandered into a piece about a game I'd never considered as a F2P candidate but that would make a fair bit of sense.
Over on Forbes.com, Dave Thier postulates that Bungie's Destiny should make the jump to F2P. He argues that the base game is already heavily discounted, to $15.89 on Amazon for PS4 (though he doesn't notice the $14.31 price tag for Xbox One), so he figures that it might as well go F2P to serve as a loss leader to get more people playing and possibly boost expansion sales.
It's solid reasoning and not unlike what ArenaNet did with Guild Wars 2. The base game for that was often discounted as low as $10, and it went F2P just before the expansion came out, offering all vanilla content for free, adding two million more players, and, in theory, boosting expansion sales. As Thier notes, Destiny already has microtransactions and free content drops, so it's pretty much F2P in all but name (and price tag) only.
Perception would probably be Destiny's biggest issue, though. Games that go from paid to F2P are often seen as "failing" on some level, and while Guild Wars 2 has mostly avoided that label, Destiny's had a rockier go of it. Also, free-to-play games have a harder time being accepted on consoles. Even if it made all the sense in the world to go F2P, would/could Bungie pull it off?
It's an interesting thought, though, and one that I wouldn't be shocked to see pick up steam next year. If you haven't tried Destiny yet, would a free-to-play move get you to check it out?
Related Articles
About the Author

Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.
Read Next
💣 Feature | Preview: TERA's Knockout Update and New Brawler Class
December 8th, En Masse Entertainment will be setting yet another new class loose in the free-to-play, action combat MMORPG TERA.
By Michael Byrne - 7 years agoYou May Enjoy
BitCraft Has A Shiny New Trailer Showcasing The World And Music Of The Sandbox MMORPG
Alpha testing has also been confirmed for early 2024.
By Troy Blackburn - 5 days agoGuild Wars 2 September Update Nerfs Some Of Y'all For Being Too PvE OP
Of course, there are fixes and quality of life changes as well.
By QuintLyn Bowers - 6 days agoThe Elder Scrolls Online Announces Secrets Of The Telvanni Community Event And Releases Updated Roadmap
Earn rewards by completing daily events as a community.
By Troy Blackburn - 6 days agoThe Mariner Class Sails Into The Lord Of The Rings Online With Today's Update
There's also adjustments to existing classes.
By Matthew D'Onofrio - 4 hours agoEmbracer Group Addresses Financial Challenges With Three-Step Plan That Will Entail "Difficult Decisions" (AKA: Probably Layoffs)
Embracer Group is confident it will achieve its goals by the end of the fiscal year.
By Matthew D'Onofrio - 1 week agoFractured Online Prepares For Its Comeback On Steam With A Fall Playtest And A Discounted Price
There will be wipes, and you have to pay to test.
By Troy Blackburn - 6 days ago
Its a good game to spend some time here and there on far better then Defiance and far longer life span still a good online fps..
you can actully have some fun in this game i did.
When done right and not abused it is the perfect model that makes everybody happy.
Well, everybody except a milker company.