Destiny gets new currency, new emotes for real Earth money

Bungie has announced the introduction of real-money purchases in Destiny's second year, starting with a batch of new emotes. In-game purchases will be connected to the game’s sprawling fiction by the return of Tess Everis, an Awoken merchant who runs a storefront in The Tower for the Eververse Trading Company. She’s the one with the lovely purple scarf - and no, it’s not for sale.

Everis is just selling 18 new emotes as of October 13, but will eventually expand her wares to include other items. You’ll keep her in business by exchanging Destiny’s newest currency, Silver, which you can buy for real money via the Xbox or PlayStation stores. You know, real money? Those Boring Coins you earn by completing your “job” back on Earth?

Bungie hasn’t yet announced pricing details for pieces of Silver, or what is likely to come beyond emotes. For now, the developer is stressing that real money spent goes toward aesthetic pleasures, like emotes, and nothing that changes the game's action.

“If you’re not interested in what Tess has to offer, you won’t ever be forced to pluck an item off of her shelf,” Bungie writes. “You’ll still receive updates to the game, and you won’t lose a Crucible encounter or fail to clear a Raid because you didn’t have the right Eververse Trading Company emote equipped.”

Of course, there’s something to be said for raising the spirits of a flagging raid team with a sassy dance emote. Many a Guardian has been lifted by a defiant hip-thrust in the face of death.