Destiny 2 dataminers reveal they faked plans for a premium subscription to "troll" players

Destiny 2 dataminers have revealed that they faked plans for a premium subscription service to "troll" players.

Aspects of Destiny 2 are free-to-play, but the game also 2 offers a hefty supply of paid-for content in the form of expansions, season passes, and fancy cosmetics. But just days ago, plans to introduce another form of monetization were seemingly discovered. Dataminers from the D2 Datamines Discord server revealed they'd found evidence that Bungie was planning to add a subscription service to Destiny 2. The cost of this new service wasn't mentioned, but it was said to be linked to the FPS's upcoming expansion, Lightfall. Given that the game already leans heavily on monetization, this news wasn't a welcome festive treat for many fans.

However, this was, in fact, all a big bunch of misinformation, and Bungie isn't planning to implement a subscription service to Destiny 2 at all. According to the dataminers behind the stunt, it was meant as a joke but gained more traction than anticipated, so they've now come clean and issued an apology for trolling players.

DTR never reported on this news because it seemed highly fake. Apology from Dataminer: pic.twitter.com/i9VXDjyer9January 2, 2023

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In a message shared on Twitter by DestinyTracker, the dataminers known as @Elliot and @bruders wrote, "Was gonna just let this keep on going, but since it grew really large and people are actually worried outside of the server, we just wanted to formally apologize and admit that we trolled everyone." 

They acknowledge that prank will likely have angered a lot of players but say that "it was all meant to be done non maliciously". To avoid another situation like this, they've promised to properly label "any future joke posts" from now on. Still, it seems odd that dataminers would risk their integrity just for a laugh, and it's likely that players will second guess anything they leak in the future.

As well as working on Destiny 2's next expansion, which is set to launch on February 28, 2023, Bungie seemingly has another non-Destiny-related project in the pipeline. Various job listings suggest it's a new "multiplayer action game," possibly with MMO, F2P and mobile elements, and could be a modern-day revival of its Marathon series. 

Keep up to date with all the best games launching this year with our guide to new games 2023.