Lots of speculation around here the past few days regarding the size of areas, the number of playable areas, content, and in some visceral reactions. Let's take a look... [b]Destiny is a 500 Million Dollar Game.[/b] True. There's a ton of money being poured into Destiny. But not all of it is going into development of just the game. [quote]It's worth noting this number doesn't solely cover development, but all the other expenses associated with manufacturing a title, including "marketing, packaging, infrastructure support, royalties and other costs".[/quote] [url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/06/destiny-is-a-500-million-gamble-for-activision-says-kotick]May 6, IGN[/url] This initial figure of 500M is going towards the 10 year development. I'm sure the biggest slices of the pie at this time are infrastructure (servers, matchmaking hosts, etc), graphics engine (because I would assume it costs a lot to build and test things like that), and marketing. All the adds. All the hype. They're looking at trying to recoup and recover as much of that cost as possible. If they hammer marketing up front, Destiny 2+ becomes easier to market because it is no longer a new IP and already has a stable player base. [b]DLC[/b] While Destiny isn't a MMO in the more traditional sense of the word, it has enough elements that make it feel like a MMOFPS (see: Defiance). They appear to be going slightly closer to a Guild Wars (original, not 2) system of "Single Purchase" + "DLC packs." For the sake of speculation (and easier math), let's assume that Bungie releases a DLC every 3 months, at a price point of $20. We'll run this experiment September to August (12 months). Sept Destiny Release (60) + Dec DLC 1 (20) + March DLC 2 (20) + June (20) = $120. (Sept could repeat cycle). So we're sitting on $120 for the "Full" game, or roughly $10 / Month if it was a more typical MMO structure. [i]I personally don't mind this due to the lack of subscription and it becoming more Opt-In for further content.[/i] [b] Each Exploreable Area is the Size of Halo Reach's Entirety.[/b] After a lot of searching, I'm unable to find out exactly HOW big Halo Reach's explorable areas are. I'm sure there's someone out there who's done the "square area." While fast travel / mounts (ie, Sparrows) make each area feel smaller, Bungie's Christian Diefenbach is quoted saying each area is "more of less the size of the entirety of Halo Reach." [url=http://xboxonedaily.com/2014/04/every-location-in-destiny-is-more-or-less-the-size-as-halo-reach/]One of Multiple Sources[/url] While he's an engineer and not a marketing person, I think it's probably from a "square foot" standpoint and not necessarily a "explorable" standpoint. (A box filled with a field is equaling a box filled with various structures.) Or perhaps Mars is just crazy big compared to others. I doubt it, but, it's an option. [b]Beta is 10% Of the Game[/b] I love words like this, because they mean so many different things. And it's so very... marketing... We didn't see "10% of the story missions." We saw 10% of the overall game: Currencies, Vendors, Locations, Missions, Strikes, PvP Maps, PvP Types, Cosmetic Items, Etc. There's a big difference between what you [b]play [/b]in the game and [b]do [/b]in the game. [b]It'll Only Take a Weekend to Beat Destiny?[/b] For some, yes. For some, no. Depends a lot on how much you play, time, what you like to do. Burn through the story missions from start to finish probably won't take too long. Especially with a fireteam. Halo's single player didn't take long. Call of Duty's doesn't take long. It's the "norm" for the majority of FPS games. To unlock that "rare gun" or buy the "best armor," could take longer through Random Drops, Saving Marks, etc. That's where a lot of the "endless replayability" comes in. [b]Destiny DB Says [X!][/b] I'm sure there's good data in there. After all, someone ripped open the App and Beta in order to take a look at the code. But even they say that it's nor official. So expect at least all of what's there. Probably not less. Unknown if more. [b]td:dr[/b] Did you play the Beta? Did you enjoy it? Does it feel like a $60 investment to you? If yes, awesome. Go buy the game. If no, awesome. You've saved yourself a couple of bucks or will look at it when the price comes down. [i]For me, it fills the niche of loot, shooting, and levels. Something I can bounce around in, take casually, do some PvP. Run some missions. And play with friends. [/i] Toodles