The notorious Destiny 2 Starter Pack has been promptly removed from all storefronts, as observed by vigilant Steam users. Bungie later confirmed the intentional removal, breaking their silence on the dormant Destiny2Team Twitter account where they acknowledged the outcry of angry players and industry pros.
Priced at $15, the Starter Pack’s contents, including subpar exotics, three cosmetics, and materials obtainable in-game that could be earned in no time at all, raised eyebrows. The misleading name, “Starter Pack,” falsely implied that spending money on it would be a beneficial entry point into the game. At a time when Bungie seeks to attract new players, this approach felt actively deceptive.
The community gave reluctant credit for Destiny 2’s rare swift response, but opinions diverged on whether the pack should exist, with some advocating for it to be free. Surprisingly, the Destiny2Team account continued to address various player concerns and confusion:
Hey everyone, we launched Season of the Wish yesterday and have been monitoring the conversation around what you’ve been enjoying and what you haven’t. We’ll start things off with the Starter Pack, which is not something bringing joy.
Which is why we’ve pulled it from stores.
— Destiny 2 Team (@Destiny2Team) November 29, 2023
We’ve heard your concerns and agreed that there are other parts of Destiny 2 that new players should want to dive into first before chasing these Exotic weapons, cosmetics, and upgrade materials.
— Destiny 2 Team (@Destiny2Team) November 29, 2023
Keep in mind, if the Starter Pack sold well, there’s a good chance they would not have pulled it, let alone even acknowledged it. That said, D2T then went on to address other sore spots in the game, concerning gameplay mods and the return to such a dated activity in Blind Well:
We’ve heard you that asking players to go back to the Blind Well as part of the first week’s story is a sore spot. One of our goals here was to make sure players knew from the start that there’s increased difficulty and new loot to earn in this activity.
— Destiny 2 Team (@Destiny2Team) November 29, 2023
While these responses and future adjustments are generally positive, the crucial aspect is the unprecedented and near-instant communication from Bungie. This represents a departure from the prolonged lack of transparency in Destiny 2’s communication strategy, emphasizing the need for a consistent pattern of behavior rather than emergency reactions to negative trends across various platforms. But this is part of the typical Bungie cycle.
While the above is all well and good, we have heard all of this before and Bungie never stays focused on the player experience and their feedback for long. Usually, Bungie will address a hot issue for a minute or two until everyone calms down and backs off a bit, and then IMMEDIATELY goes right back to their shady and deceptive ways.
At this point, the drama is far more interesting than anything going on in-game. And whether you are enjoying the present state of Destiny 2 now or not, none of this is a good look for the developer or the future of the franchise. We can’t help but feel like it’s possible that Destiny 2 is being squeezed for more money in the final hour before Sony steps in and starts restructuring or perhaps it could go another way. Some think that maybe the higher-ups over at Bungie are self-sabotaging so some other entity, namely Sony, swoops in and offers to buy out all their assets with plans to dissolve Bungie in its current state. Regardless, permanent change needs to happen and soon, as we no longer feel Bungie has the right leadership to run Destiny as a franchise.
