We’re only a few weeks away from the start of Destiny’s Season of the Deep, and Bungie has just revealed (in last week’s TWAB) that the price of the season pass is about to go up. Next season will cost 1200 Silver rather than 1000, which equates to a $2 increase, from $10 to $12. “This will be the new price for Season Passes in Lightfall’s year for those looking to maximize their rewards with each new Season,” the studio wrote. “And we’ll be evaluating new approaches to post-launch content in the year of The Final Shape.”

The community isn’t taking the news well, but this isn’t out of line with the kind of price increases we’re seeing across the entire industry. With the release of Redfall and Tears of the Kingdom, both Xbox and Nintendo are now charging $70 for console games, just as PlayStation has throughout the lifespan of the PS5. At $10 per quarter, the Destiny season passes have been dramatically underpriced for years, at least compared to other live-service games and the amount of content each season provides. This (very small) price increase is reasonable, but at the same time, the resentment from the community is understandable. This isn’t a great time for Bungie to ask players for more money.

Since the release of Lightfall in March, community sentiment towards the game has been overwhelmingly negative. Between Lightfall’s lousy campaign, an oddly unchallenging raid, a hamfisted death, performance issues, and rampant bugs, it’s easy to see why players aren’t thrilled about being asked for more money. It doesn’t help that we’re coming off of The Witch Queen expansion, arguably the best year Destiny 2 has ever had. Many remain hopeful that Season of the Deep will start to turn things around for Lightfall, but they don’t want to pay extra to find out.

This change would have gone over much better had it happened a couple of years ago, during Beyond Light’s second season. February 2021’s Season of the Chosen was a massive season for Destiny. Not only did it reintroduce two classic Strikes from Destiny 1 - Devil’s Lair and S.A.B.E.R. - but it also gave us our first Battlegrounds activity. Battlegrounds are playlist activities that have become a staple of seasonal content, first with Season of the Chosen, then with Heist Battlegrounds, and now with Defiant Battlegrounds in the current season. Beyond Light’s seasonal content represented a huge leap in quality across the board, and had the price increased then, I think it would have been much better received.

The same goes for The Witch Queen. Last year had its low points in between updates just like any expansion does, but the public sentiment towards Destiny 2 was so high through The Witch Queen that a price increase at any point throughout the year would have gone down much better. I respect Bungie for staving off a price increase until it was absolutely necessary - and I believe that it is - but I can’t help but feel like waiting until now didn’t do the studio any favors.

I’m fine with the price increase, but I still have some problems with the way Destiny 2 is monetized. A $2 increase isn’t a big deal, but you can’t just buy 1200 Silver. The closest you can get is 1500 Silver for $15, which leaves you with 300 that you can spend on cosmetics, or roll over four times until you get a ‘free’ season a year from now. There’s also the issue of piecemeal content like dungeons that players still need to pay separately for. Bungie would have been better off increasing the price to $15 and getting rid of the a la carte content that makes players feel nickel and dimed.

Even the most disillusioned Destiny 2 player is likely invested enough at this point to hold on through The Final Shape. Once the Saga of Light and Dark concludes, Bungie is really going to have to prove that Destiny 2 is still worth it. All of these little things add up over time to cause friction with the playerbase, and it’s getting harder for people to focus on the positives. The $2 increase to season passes isn’t that big deal, but the timing of it is.

Next: