The MMO shooter Destiny did not release any major content in 2017. There was no new game, no DLC, no expansion in store. Still, it rocks the revenue charts on PS4 and Xbox One.
Superdata has published the digital revenues for video games in the first half of 2017. And indeed, Destiny, the MMO shooter, is in 7th place. It earned more money on PS4 and Xbox One than new games like Mass Effect: Andromeda or For Honor.
The special thing is: In 2017, nothing happened with Destiny. No expansion came, nor did any DLCs appear. Everything is focused on the Destiny 2 release in September 2017. Bungie has sent clear signals that Destiny 1 is finished. The servers for Destiny will remain online “for the foreseeable future”, but not much will happen anymore.
Only one content update, the Age of Triumph, was released in spring, bringing new items to the Eververse, the cash shop of the game.
Destiny is digitally the seventh strongest game on PS4 and Xbox One, and that without delivering new content. The digital revenues result only from microtransactions and players who are now joining and have purchased Destiny or the expansions digitally.
Games as a service means games live longer, games earn money longer
However: Destiny is not the only game that works like this.
Among the top games 2017, there is only one title in the console category that was released in 2017: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. Ubisoft has therefore also declared it the “biggest hit of the gaming industry in the first half of 2017“.
All other titles are from the previous year or, like Grand Theft Auto V, even older. Call of Duty is still in the charts with the “non-current version” Black Ops III.
It shows what it means when everyone talks about the “digital games market” growing: Companies no longer earn their money just with the release of games. Through DLCs and cash shops, the lifespan of successful games is significantly extended.
This means: In the long term, companies will increasingly focus on supporting and expanding a few games for a long time, instead of releasing many titles.
At the top of the list is the game that celebrates microtransactions like no other: FIFA 17 with its “Ultimate Team” packs. Electronic Arts now wants to transfer the FIFA model to its other franchises like Battlefield or Battlefront – the old “season pass” model with paid DLCs has become obsolete there.
You can’t make endless money without new content
However: Making money endlessly without new content doesn’t work either. When looking at the monthly charts, a downward trend can be observed for Destiny. While it remained in places 6-9 from January to April, it fell out of the top 10 in May/June. Nonetheless, in the end, it was enough for 7th place worldwide.
For more about games-as-a-service and what that has to do with MMOs, read here:
