In-game microtransactions have always been tricky for game developers, but Bungie, so far, appears to be handling things well by promising the microtransactions will be for purely cosmetic changes and will not affect the gameplay.
Bungie also promised all players will receive a handful of free Silver, the new currency for microtransactions, when Update 2.0.1 rolls out next week, but the developer is going another step further to reward its loyal gamers by giving even more free currency to purchase yet unknown items.
Beginning Tuesday, Guardians will be able to get more free Silver simply by playing anytime between then and December, no other actions required.
"If you're a player of Destiny, you'll have some Silver in your account when Eververse Trading opens their new shop," says Bungie in its weekly update. "If you appear in the game between now and December, you'll get even more Silver. Thanks for playing."
On Oct. 13, the Eververse Trading Company will set up shop to sell a dozen and a half emotes, the gestures that players can make in the game with their characters. Bungie promises to sell more emotes in the future, but no word has been made on when and whether we will also see other stuff being sold through Eververse Trading.
So far, Bungie has not revealed any information about the real price of Silver yet, but the developer says players will be able to buy content that will be a "surprise that keeps on surprising." In other words, there is really nothing much else we know about Destiny's microtransactions yet.
However, Bungie assures that players will not be forced into shelling out their actual hard-earned dollars in order to receive updates or finish a raid.
"If you're not interested in what Tess has to offer, you won't ever be forced to pluck an item off her shelf," says Bungie.
Incorporating microtransactions into a game that players already paid for is often a controversial issue, but if Bungie handles this well, analysts believe microtransactions can generate up to hundreds of millions of dollars for the company.
