The white wolf is coming to Destiny 2 by way of some new cosmetics. Bungie teased a crossover with CD Projekt Red’s beloved RPG The Witcher 3 that will add three new armor sets to make players look like protagonist Geralt of Rivia, at least if they’re willing to shell out $20 or more for a single set. The new skins look great, but also arrive at Destiny 2’s lowest point in years.
“Today, Bungie revealed the upcoming in-game collaboration with CD Projekt Red coming alongside Season of the Wish on November 28,” the company wrote in a press release. “Guardians can style themselves as monster slayers with new cosmetics inspired by Geralt of Rivia. The crossover includes armor ornaments, a Ghost shell, ship, Sparrow, emote, and finisher.”
We don’t know exactly how much the armor sets will cost, but past collaborations with games like Assassin’s Creed have been priced at $20 per armor set. That means it would be $60 to buy all three, not including the Ghost shell and other stuff. Crossover sets have also traditionally not been available to buy with bright dust, the currency earned in-game, meaning the only way to unlock the Witcher 3 sets will be to pay for them with real money.
As a big fan of all things Witcher, from the books and games to the rapidly declining Netflix adaptation, I’m intrigued by the new skins. But their timing couldn’t be worse. A rough year for Destiny 2 recently culminated in Bungie laying off 100 employees as well as reportedly missing revenue projections by 45 percent and delaying The Final Shape expansion by three months. It left players who were already frustrated with the direction of the game in recent seasons skeptical and worried. As Forbes writer Paul Tassi recently pointed out, Destiny 2 is now at its lowest concurrent player number ever on Steam.
While the start of Season of the Wish next week looks like it might finally make good on a Destiny 2 mystery that dates back five years, tons of questions about the future of the game remain, and the proliferation of pricey armor sets remains a major sore spot for the community. Destiny 2 made one of its new armor sets free in September to try to assuage some of the anger. Asking players to shell out for another collaboration after just laying off staff, including community managers, composers, and even longtime veterans, will be another tough sell, no matter how good the sets look.