After the Eurogamer interview with Destiny’s Creative Director, Luke Smith, many fans had been left with a sour taste in their mouth about the game. You can easily see why with the interview that Eurogamer did below:
Eurogamer: So it may seem like a small thing but you’re adding exclusive content to the game – three new dance emotes – that players can’t get unless they rebuy the main game and the two existing DLCs. Is that right?
Luke Smith: 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.
Eurogamer: Can you see that some fans are confused that you’re asking them to buy stuff they already own?
Luke Smith: 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?
Eurogamer: Well, yeah. I would rather do that – pay a few pounds or dollars or whatever – than spend money on things I already own.
Luke Smith: [Laughs] Well, we have nothing more to talk about regarding your opportunity to spend extra money in Destiny, other than The Taken King and the three versions we’ve announced.
Eurogamer: Is Bungie considering selling customisation items such as this separately? Or is that against the studio’s philosophy for the game?
Luke Smith: Rather than comment on the Bungie philosophy, here’s what I’ll tell you. If someone made a golf clap emote, I would spend money on that. Like when someone falls in the Vault of Glass. At the moment I bow when I’m trying to mess with them. So… I empathise with some of the things you’re saying.
Eurogamer: I feel like you should put some of these things that you are empathising with into practice.
Luke Smith: We have nothing to announce today. We’re reading the forums and the reactions to this week’s announcements. We will continue to discuss player feedback with respect to the the game and Collector’s Edition content.
Eurogamer: Taken King costs £39.99, which is almost same as base game. Does its content justify that?
Luke Smith: I’m going to use American dollars, because British pounds are just foreign to me…
Eurogamer: Literally foreign.
Luke Smith: Indeed, an ocean away. 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…
Eurogamer: I get that it is big but it is also the same price as the base game. That had four areas rather than one and more missions than the Taken King. Why is it the same price?
Luke Smith: All I can do is answer that with the same thing I just gave you… 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.
Oryx, father of Crota. He isn’t too pleased with you.
Eurogamer: Just not the emotes.
Luke Smith: It doesn’t because they come with the Collector’s Edition.
Eurogamer: Final question on prices –
Luke Smith: Is it also the final question on the emotes?
Eurogamer: I’m not going to mention them again. I can’t get them.
Luke Smith: But you can if you buy the Collector’s Edition.
Eurogamer: I’m not going to buy the game and the two DLCs all over again.
Luke Smith: Okay, but first I want to poke at you on this a little bit.
Eurogamer: Poke at me?
Luke Smith: You’re feeling anxious because you want this exclusive content but you don’t know yet how much you want it. The notion of spending this money is making you anxious, I can see it –
Eurogamer: I do want them. I would buy them –
Luke Smith: If I fired up a video right now and showed you the emotes you would throw money at the screen.
Eurogamer: What I’m saying is that fan frustration is not because they don’t understand the proposition. It comes regardless of how cool the exclusive content is. The frustration – and mine as a fan – is that the method of acquiring it requires me to re-buy content I bought a year ago.
Luke Smith: [Long pause] It’s about value. The player’s assessment of the value of the content.
After that hit the world wide web people began bashing on Bungie and Destiny. Bungie, soon realizing the position they were in placed Luke in the spotlight for part one of an early weekly update to let us in on some of the ways they will be fixing the issue of the core players to Destiny possibly missing out on these new emotes and shaders. This is a direct excerpt from Bungie’s weekly update from Luke Smith himself.
“I am Luke Smith, Creative Director on Destiny: The Taken King.Many, many years ago, I wrote to you each week in this spot. We talked about Battle Rifles, we talked about stuff we weren’t going to talk about, and at some point I did a horrible hand-drawing of an upcoming map and teased you with it in the Weekly Update.Anyone who knows me knows I can be sarcastic, anyone who remembers podcasts I’ve done knows that I can be pretty blunt, and anyone who’s watched me in a ViDoc knows I’m pretty unpolished.However, most of you don’t know me.Reading my interview with Eurogamer and imagining it came from some random developer of a game I love – that random developer looks like an Asshat.But that Asshat was me – and those words rightfully anger you.I’m sorry.My words made it sound as if Bungie doesn’t care about their most loyal fans.We do care. We are listening. And we will make it right.Here’s what we’re doing about the Collector’s Edition of Destiny: The Taken King…”
Black Shader, Black Sparrow, and an emblem for VIP Members.
