Things go from bad to worse for Destiny 2's controversial ‘Starter Pack’
Bundle blasted by players as being ‘pay-to-win’ has been pulled from sale.
Following substantial backlash from players, Destiny 2’s recently released Starter Pack DLC has been yanked from storefronts.
The add-on, which arrived alongside the game’s latest update, had drawn the ire and mockery of players across Reddit and Twitter in recent days, with most suggesting they didn’t think it was good value for money. Is $15/£12.99 too much for a bundle of okay-ish items designed to help give newbies a leg up or veterans more kit to hoard? Well, it kind of doesn’t matter now.
As spotted by Kotaku’s Ethan Gach, the Starter Pack has now been rendered unpurchasable via Steam, Xbox and PlayStation storefronts, in a move that’s come from Bungie itself. The Steam listing for the add-on, for example, now displays the message “Notice: Destiny 2: Starter Pack is no longer available on the Steam store.”
Meanwhile, the place on the PlayStation Store website that should house it instead features a generic error message that, rather ironically given the player reaction to the pack, reads “this probably isn't what you're looking for…”. Over on Xbox, you can still find the pack, but it doesn’t look to be buyable.
In a series of subsequent tweets, Destiny 2’s developers have confirmed the pack’s removal and explained the reasoning behind it:
“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. 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.”
Before it was sent back to its home planet, the Starter Pack offered a mixture of old-ish exotic weapons, some cosmetic items that won’t actually improve your character’s effectiveness in battle, plus a pretty limited stash of in-game currency and crafting materials. All of these could be acquired via the Tower’s special deliveries terminal once you’d bought the pack.
In other recent Destiny 2 news, Bungie has now confirmed that the game’s Final Shape expansion will be delayed from February 27, 2024, to June 4 the same year, pretty much corroborating a Bloomberg report that came out around the time it was revealed the studio would be enacting layoffs.