Is A Game Truly F2P If You Have To Pay For Expansions?

Writing up Destiny 2’s “Year of Prophecy” yesterday, I found myself pondering something I think about on occasion. When you get down to it, is this game really free-to-play if you’re paying for expansions?

Don’t misunderstand, I know companies need to make money somehow, even on games that are free-to-play. So, this isn’t a complaint about having to spend money on games in general. That said, when developers charge for main content like expansions, it feels as though players don’t have much in the way of options if they want to be able to play the same content as their friends. They have to pay to keep up.

This is something we expect from buy-to-play MMOs. We paid a box price to get in, it’s highly probable we’ll be paying to stay in – either via sub, expansion purchases, or both. Either way, it’s expected that unless you’re paying in some way, you won’t be with your friends if you haven’t bought the appropriate content or aren’t subscribed.

But when a game bills itself as free-to-play, things can get a bit muddy. Some games are free-to-play with cosmetic purchases or gacha rolls. Some charge for small batches of DLC. And then some, like Destiny 2, let you into the game for free but charge for further expansions. The funny thing about this last option is that it can feel similar to B2P MMOs that offer extended free trials. Yes, these typically block certain social aspects like joining guilds or various types of trading in the game. But players can still play the game up to a certain point for free, and then have to pay to get into the content that the majority of the community is doing.

Then there are other games that give you all the playable content for free and find other ways to charge you. I’m not saying things like a gacha system or lootboxes are better. If I'm honest, I’m not a big fan of them, as I'd prefer to just buy things outright. What I can say is that it is possible to play these games without dropping any money at all. Yeah, you might miss out on cool items, but you still have the option to actually go through the game for free.

Of course, Destiny 2 isn’t the only game that wears the F2P banner and gates content behind a fee. This is just one of the many monetization systems that developers use. And I’m not here to judge which system is better. As someone who plays F2P games like Zenless Zone Zero and B2P/sub-based games like Final Fantasy XIV, I personally find both systems have their benefits and their downsides. I just find myself questioning the F2P label on games that lock playable content behind a fee.