Destiny microtransaction store opens next week, sells emotes

Destiny Year Two will offer cashed-up guardians the chance to purchase new emotes with which to express their feelings.

Yes, Destiny is getting microtransations as of October 13.

According to a Bungie.net announcement, former special requisitions manager Tess Everis will return to the tower, fronting the Eververse Trading Company. This new store will offer 18 brand new emotes.

You can't purchase these Emotes with glimmer - you'll need Silver, a new currency which can only be obtained by making cash purchases through the PlayStation or Xbox Stores.

Bungie said it will provide all Guardians with enough free Silver to "purchase an emote or two and become legend through the power of dance". It also stated, very emphatically, that all emotes are optional and ignoring them will never block access to content or rewards.

As for why Bungie's doing this, the developer seemed to imply it needs to the money to help pay for ongoing support of Destiny:

"Our plan is to use these new items to bolster the service provided by our live team for another full year, as they grow and create more robust and engaging events that we’ll announce later this year," Bungie said.

"It has been, and continues to be, our goal to deliver updates to the game. Going forward, our live team is also looking to grow beyond vital updates and improvements to focus on world events, experiences, and feature requests."

Feel free to begin doing napkin maths regarding the cost of a subscription MMO versus the price of vanilla Destiny, its expansions and The Taken King when spread out over 12 months. If Destiny were a traditional MMO with ongoing content drops, this sort of added revenue stream would be par for the course - but is it?