The evidence is as follows:
First, Activision has said several times that they anticipate a ten-year lifespan for Bungie’s new blockbuster, Destiny.
Second, any shared-world experience is open to a myriad of extra income, including endless amounts of downloadable content, microtransactions, and even monthly subscription fees, should the publisher choose to go in this direction.
Third, the shooter category is only gaining in popularity and in fact, in a few years, it could be the biggest and best-selling genre in the industry. Currently, it’s in competition with open-world action and RPG titles, like Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s Creed. Combining the shooter with the shockingly addictive shared-world MMO format should be immensely lucrative.
The continued support for Destiny will be appreciated by millions, but it will also make millions
This isn’t Call of Duty or Battlefield. Destiny is set up like any other MMO (World of Warcraft springs immediately to mind). This means the world is ever-expanding; the developers can – and do – continue to support the product for years, releasing new content in the form of expansion packs on a relatively frequent basis. These packs can be surprisingly pricey but perhaps unsurprisingly, those already hooked on the game are perfectly willing to pay the price.
I don’t know what the profit margin must be on this stuff, but it has to be huge. It doesn’t take that much in the way of resources to produce what’s typically in an MMO expansion pack, and considering the cost and the number of people who buy it, it has to generate immense profit. How much did Activision make all told on WoW? It has to be well into the billions by now, right? Any particular reason Destiny can’t do the same thing?
And Destiny, being a shooter, has more mainstream appeal than the action/RPG that is WoW.
The possibilities – for development and fees – are literally limitless
Bungie could go hog-wild with this one. This could end up being one of the most infinitely engaging, wildly diverse and active virtual worlds ever created. Just give the team time…and time is what they’ll have.
That being said, with the game tailor-made for a monthly subscription service of some kind or microtransactions galore, one has to assume Activision will want to take advantage of one or the other. Last generation, there were rumors that the publisher wanted to further monetize Call of Duty, and several analysts predicted Activision would install subscription fees to play CoD online. That hasn’t happened, but I think it hasn’t happened because the company plans to do just that with Destiny.
Not out of the gate, mind you. No, give everyone a chance to become fully immersed and then spring the monthly fee on them. They’ll be far more likely to go for it, right? And if not a subscription fee, microtransactions might start popping up left and right. No matter what happens, though, I’m convinced that Destiny has a great shot at fulfilling its “destiny” as the richest video game ever created.
