Trying to figure out what specific rights users have in the digital era is an increasingly perplexing task as titles are removed from user libraries that have purchased the title, large swaths of purchased content are cut erroneously for ‘reasons’, and trying to play some games is an intensely frustrating ordeal of linking to and from multiple accounts.
Somehow, in the past decade, users gave up all of their rights and expectations when purchasing a product, or purchasing a license to play a product until otherwise revoked by a publisher or studio, and we weren’t exactly asked how we felt about it.
As announced in June, Bungie is removing all base Destiny 2 content along with the first year of expansion content.
Bungie states that Destiny 2 is apparently ‘too large to efficiently update and maintain‘ so they’ve opted to simply slash the amount of content that users have purchased, vaulting content to be cycled in much the same way that Warframe vaults content.
So there could be times when content that users have purchased will be playable in the future, although no one is entirely sure when those times will be arriving (or what content will be offered).
This allows Bungie to offer three new expansions that people will pay for, starting with Beyond Light that retails currently on Steam for $40, can include a season pass with $50, and offers a deluxe edition for $70. This seems all well and good until the time comes where this content is simply removed from games as well.
Granted, Destiny 2 is an incoherent mess of missions and characters at the moment: figuring out where to start, what to do, and who holds what role in the story is a fascinatingly arduous and complex task.
However, Destiny 2 launched at $60 and the first season of content was an additional $30; people paid for this content, and it’s being taken from the title with seemingly reckless abandon because Bungie is struggling with content bloat. $90 of content is being removed on November 9, and a surprising number of people seem fine with it.
This will make way for new content that will also be paid for, and possibly removed in the future. To say that the player base of Destiny 2 is getting the short end of the stick is accurate with this plan.
Some aren’t particularly upset; the first year of Destiny 2 was rough, with both the base game and seasonal content failing to impress fans and critics alike. It is going to remove a wealth of in-game raids for the time being.
Here’s hoping that Bungie has enough data and motivation to upend the loss of content to make fans feel as though they aren’t being robbed. Good luck, Guardians.
