According to a new article from Kotaku, Activision isn’t happy with the performance of Destiny 2 since launch. During the same earnings call, Activision Publishing boss Coddy Johnson revealed that the company wants to “improve the pace of innovation and cadence of in-game content.”
This interpretation is further cemented by the fact that the game maker is currently giving away free copies of Destiny 2 on PC, until November 18th. These kinds of signs don’t paint a positive picture of the game. And it’s now become clear that Activision wants more money from the franchise.
Johnson went on to say:
“We have not yet seen the full core re-engage in Destiny, which has kind of led to the underperformance against expectations to date. Some players we think are still in ‘wait and see’ mode. If you’re in, you’re deeply engaged. If you’re not, we’re hoping now’s the time to bring players back in and win them back.”
The game development company admits that the company has done well in terms of it’s overall revenue. And gamers who tend to dislike microtransactions are definitely skeptical about all of this. There’s this general perception that since Activision made $4 billion on microtransactions last year, one has to wonder how much money is enough for the company and its investors.
Some more cynical interpretations may point to these statements and see the writing on the wall about Activision wanting more monetization in their games. Currently, Destiny 2 players can purchase Silver in exchange for real money and then use that Silver to purchase cosmetics like Bright Engrams and other items. But it remains to be seen how Activision acts on these plans.
But given that the games industry, at least in terms of AAA publishers, is putting a ton of focus on making games more “engaging”, which in these circumstances means a game is intentionally designed to make a game a grind festival of gameplay that isn’t fun, but keeps players hooked through endless gameplay loops. It’s this core idea that seems to drive a lot of publishers to push for increased monetization models that place more pressure on players to cough up more cash. That way, these companies can rake in more money from a smaller playerbase. If Activision jumps into this mentality with Destiny, there’s no telling what it could do to both the quality of the games and the enjoyment of the players.
Destiny 2: Forsaken is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
