Bungie; please make BUYING the game and access to its content more intuitive (and also; suggestions for monetization improvements for players and Bungie alike)

Destiny 2 is such an odd game. When I am playing it, it is the most fun FPS I have ever played. It is the only game I've actually enjoyed the PvP (well, including the first game in this), and while I can't possibly wrap my head around how people discover all the "secrets" that exist, I love experiencing this stuff!

But damn if actually trying to play the game isn't a pain in the ass sometimes.

Look, I'm just gonna be real with you; the idea of selling "dungeon keys" separate from their expansion is a load of BS. I'm sorry, but there's just no justification for that. But what makes it all the worse is just how confusing it is to try and pay for Destiny. Like, what content includes what? What is relevant? What is just cosmetic? I like cosmetics, but which cosmetics go to which? There are the in-game ads for the expansions, and then the platform-specific storefronts, which can also be quite confusing.

I'm willing to give Bungie the benefit of the doubt, even though it's hard to feel like it's not intentionally obfuscated sometimes. Realistically I can't imagine that to be the case, since it would make more sense to make it clear upfront what content is important, but whatever.

Now having gotten all of my complaining out of the way, I'd like to propose a few suggestions. I don't work in game dev, so obviously take these with a grain of salt, but I do work in digital fundraising, and am generally considered to be one of the best country at what I do, so what I'm suggesting isn't entirely nonsense, either.

1. "Less is more"

So, this is directly tied to my experienced in fundraising, but across every sector, without exception, we have found that having a lower "average gift" (donation) brings in money than having a higher average gift ($12-13 is usually the "sweet spot", anything beyond $23 is generally losing money). The reason is pretty obvious, but a lower average directly correlates to more people giving. A lot of people may be unaware of this, but modern day US politics was totally redefined by the $5 donation; suddenly it became far more important to reach out to normal people. Now obviously in the world of politics, large gifts from corportate or private entities still exist, but that's really neither here nor there in regards to Destiny. The bread and butter is almost always asking for less, from more people, creating a much steadier, predictable income.

Put simply; lowering the cost of items in eververse would very likely drive up sales. I think we could just look at Fortnite for an example of numbers that are clearly working; where Destiny 2 is asking for $20 for a set of collab armor, Fortnite asks $12-15 for a similarly functional character skin (larger bundles usually around $18). Not cutting prices in half, but noticeably lower.

• Monthly plans CAN work

I think we witnessed the "bubble burst" of recurring subscriptions last year. Last report I'd seen, the average American carried 14 different subscriptions totalling roughly $150 per month, purely in various entertainment platforms. So there's definitely been some pushback against monthly subs.

That said, again I see Fortnite continually expanding theirs, which I have to assume means they're seeing some success. I know in the nonprofit sector, recurring gifts are far more valuable than single gifts (I think the relative value per acquisition was calculated at something like $0.61 in recurring giving being equal to $1.00 in a single gift, which if you're bad at finance is freaking bonkers).

I feel like it would be a pretty easy model to adopt and adapt to Destiny, and in fact you could even lean on Bungie's brand as a bonus; for like $7.77 a month, give players 1000-1200 silver and maybe a new Exotic ornament each month. No guarantees what said ornament will be, of course, but that becomes part of the "fun". And of course, you can still buy said ornament if you miss out, but it won't be "free".

You could even sweeten the pot with occasional "freebies" for members, like automatically recieving new twitch drops, or maybe getting like new Eververse items a few days earlier (or more frequent "rotations").

Again, I think these things would be beneficial to all parties involved; players would be happier getting things cheaper, Bungie likely ends up with a greater, but almost assuredly more reliable income.

From the marketing side of things, I'd probably either announce these changes alongside a new major expansion announcement, or 2-3 months after said expansion drops (when I assume player retention starts to fall off; no data on that one, just a pure guess) to drum up excitement during what might otherwise be a content drought.

Again, just my two cents!

In any case, I would DEFINITELY encourage whoever is involved at Bungie to go back to square one on each of the current storefronts where Destiny 2 is sold, and really try to simplify the offerings, and make it more clear what your bundles are. "Digital deluxe", for most games, simply means "extra cosmetics". Maybe word them like "Destiny 2: Story Bundle" vs. "Destiny 2: Story + All Content Bundle", things that make it more clear what to buy based on what you actually are trying to buy.

Anyways, thanks for coming to my TED talk.