Destiny 2
Bungie
Now that we have the full list of everything Destiny 2 is “rising” ie. erasing from the video game with Beyond Light, I find myself considering a question that has actually plagued the video game because the material vault was revealed.
What are the potentially legal or ethical implications of erasing formerly paid-for content from a computer game?
Sticking with Destiny 2, Bungie simply cant have it keep expanding forever. Its approaching technical and difficult drive area constraints with a lot content in the game, so the material vault was born, and 40-50% of the game is heading into it to clear out space for new, more relevant stuff. I guess Bungie is technically navigating the “but we paid for this material and its gone” concern because the vault indicates things can come out of the vault, and in a year possibly state, Menagerie pops out of it, and voila, you have open door to that due to the fact that you already purchased that season method back when.
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Fate 2
Bungie
This does not strike me as the exact same situation as when say, New Light showed up. New Light made Destiny 2 vanilla and Osiris/Warmind content free. Offering something for free to new gamers does not take anything away from the gamers that currently own it.
The other comparison Im hearing is possibly the most close, where video games eventually shut off servers making multiplayer unattainable on older titles. I guess I can arrange of see that, and yet those schedules are typically really, actually long. Season of Opulence, for instance, was a year earlier, and now thats going to be completely cleaned.
I am not saying we ought to all be forming some sort of class action suit against Bungie, however this really is a special circumstance, and one I think were going to start seeing a lot more of in this market. Realistically, what is Bungie supposed to do here? The “regular” choice would have been to make Destiny 3 and leave Destiny 2 behind entirely. The video game would have been “undamaged” however we would have basically lost access to all its material as pertinent for the present series, as we did when Destiny 1 got left behind.
The problem is Destiny has basically placed itself as a subscription service like Netflix, although that was not explained up front. When you pay $120 a year for Netflix, you understand you are not literally paying to own every title in its library. Things are added, things leave monthly.
Destiny has just recently started saying up front that specific things have a time limit. That was not the case with Destiny 2 base content, 2 DLCs, three year 2 seasons and two growths, and even though Forsaken and Shadowkeep are not in the content vault yet, they extremely well could be soon enough. When you bought the video game, you were not informed that in a couple of years, the content of that video game may become unattainable indefinitely.
Thats efficiently whats happened here, just in Destinys case, theres year 3, and now year 4 content to fill the space.
That was not the case with Destiny 2 base material, two DLCs, three year 2 seasons and two expansions, and even though Forsaken and Shadowkeep are not in the material vault yet, they very well might be quickly enough. The “normal” choice would have been to make Destiny 3 and leave Destiny 2 behind entirely. The video game would have been “undamaged” however we would have essentially lost access to all its material as appropriate for the existing series, as we did when Destiny 1 got left behind.
I am not beginning “mad” at Bungie here. In fact, I personally dont really care about many of the stuff going away from an useful viewpoint, I simply think this is an intriguing question in the era of video games in 2020, and “developing worlds” that have to break long-established rules or run the risk of strangling themselves to death.
Think about how this would feel in a different, possibly non-live service game. Thats effectively whats taken place here, just in Destinys case, theres year 3, and now year 4 content to fill the space.
I dont covet Bungies position here, but I likewise dont disagree with fans who see this as simply flat erasing something they paid for which actually, is precisely how it feels. This seems “required,” yes, but in practice its extremely unusual in the home entertainment space, and a scenario most video games have never needed to deal with rather like this in the past. More likely will in the future.
Actually, the only things left from Years 1-2 of Destiny are the EDZ, Nessus and the Tower, the loot we got from those first two years if we kept it (even if its being “sunset,” its not actually disappearing).
Destiny 2
Bungie
However this is sort of a wild scenario because depending on when you got the game, you paid $60 for the base game, and $35 for the growth pass. Thats $95 for content just a couple of years ago that just no longer exists.
The reality of the matter is that Bungie is getting rid of access to more or less 2 years of material. Truly, the only things left from Years 1-2 of Destiny are the EDZ, Nessus and the Tower, the loot we got from those very first two years if we kept it (even if its being “sundown,” its not actually vanishing).
Destiny 2
Bungie
I believe the ultimate answer is that players have to comprehend how video games are going to alter and progress moving forward. In spite of Destiny not actually being a regular monthly membership, it essentially is a monthly subscription. It is Netflx. Things are included, things disappear, and the cash youre paying is access for whats currently there. Once again, this was not defined years ago when this content was very first bought, hence the issue, but its quite clear now this is how the video game works moving forward, and even if Im paying $40 for Beyond Light this fall, that material might be thrown in the vault in two years for all I know. However Im ready to buy it anyway.
