A recent Destiny 2 datamine revealed info that suggests a monthly subscription might be coming alongside the upcoming annual expansion, Lightfall. While we don’t know what the subscription entails or how the new model will work, I can’t help but feel like some kind of shakeup is necessary at this point. Regardless of how you feel about game subscriptions, the reality is that Destiny 2 has always had a subscription - it just happens to be structured in a non-traditional way via annual expansions and quarterly seasons.

Over time, that seasonal model has expanded to include a wider variety of microtransactions in order to stay current with new content. It’s gotten to a point where even daily players can be confused by what is and isn’t included in their purchases. If I were Bungie, I’d be looking for ways to simplify the cost through a traditional subscription model.

Destiny 2 sits in a unique space between live-service and MMO. Because there are no other games quite like Destiny, it’s forced to be experimental with the way it releases and monetizes new content. Unlike MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14 that charge a monthly fee alongside bi-annual expansions, Destiny 2 releases annual expansions and sells quarterly seasons.

In the end, Destiny 2 is significantly cheaper than most MMOs. If you play WoW for two years you’ll need to buy a $60 expansion and make 24 monthly payments of $15, for a total of $420. If you play Destiny 2 for two years you’ll need to buy two expansions at $40 each, plus 8 seasonal payments of $10 for a total of $160. That was the baseline for Destiny 2 for the first four years, but the cost has been slowly increasing as the amount of count Bungie is able to produce has increased.

The Witch Queen was delayed from the usual expansion release window of September 2021 to February 2022, and in its play was the Bungie 30th Anniversary Pack, a $25 pseudo-season that added a new dungeon, a new six-player activity, and lots of new gear, among other things. This was controversial, since it meant players would need to buy DLC to access a dungeon to earn a powerful exotic weapon, which in this case was Gjallarhorn, a beloved rocket launcher from the original Destiny. With the release of The Witch Queen, Bungie decided to charge separately for all dungeons moving forward. Both Duality and Spire of the Watcher cost $20 to access, and as far as we know, the dungeons released during Lightfall will cost the same. To remedy all of these individual microtransactions, Bungie sold a Deluxe version of The Witch Queen that included the expansion, all four seasons, and both dungeons for $80.

Lightfall pre-orders went up earlier this year, and players were distressed to find out that the price of the expansion was increased to $50, while the bundle price for the annual pass was increased to $100. On top of that, the datamine suggests there could also be a monthly subscription. What that subscription includes isn’t clear, but many suspect it would offer additional incentives, like Eververse currency and cosmetics. Destiny 2 already has four seasonal battle passes each year, so this seems like it would be an additional premium subscription on top of the expansion, season pass, and dungeon keys.

If you buy the deluxe edition of Lightfall it may not seem like that big of a deal. A $100 upfront purchase plus a monthly subscription ($5 or $10, one would assume) in order to access everything Destiny 2 has to offer is reasonable, and still well below what other MMOs cost to play. But when you break down every individual thing Destiny 2 asks you to buy, putting another subscription on top of the pile can feel like a big ask. When players are already frustrated that dungeons cost extra now, does Bungie really want to ask them for even more money?

At this point, I’d prefer if all of these add-ons were condensed into a single subscription, like an MMO. I’m willing to buy annual expansion for $50, but I don’t want to pay for seasons, dungeons, and monthly subscriptions separately. It doesn’t feel like I’m getting a lot more value out of Destiny 2 than I did before all these separate costs, and for new players it presents a significant barrier to entry. A simplified monthly subscription that includes everything feels like a cleaner option at this point, and I’d happily pay it if it meant never trying to figure out what is and isn’t included in my purchases again.