Overwatch 2 releases its PvP part with a Free2Play model and aims to finance itself through a Battle Pass. Jon Spector, Overwatch Commercial Leader, explained on Twitter how it works and is facing significant backlash for announcing that new heroes will be unlocked through the Battle Pass.
Months ago, first leaked images of Overwatch 2 showed that a Battle Pass would be introduced. It is now clear: The Battle Pass comes along with a live season system. Loot boxes will be completely removed.
Additionally, the PvP part of Overwatch 2 is completely Free2Play. The PvE part may incur no additional costs for subscribers of the Xbox Game Pass.
However, it is now new that you unlock new heroes through the Battle Pass. After a somewhat unclear advertisement caused dissatisfaction in the community, Jon Spector, Overwatch Commercial Leader, attempted to smooth over the situation on Twitter.
He explained that new heroes will always be unlocked through the free path. We will show you how the Battle Pass could work and what reactions there have been on MeinMMO.
The new hero of Overwatch in Season 1 is called Kiriko. Before that, Junker Queen was in the beta, which you can see here in the trailer:
Battle Pass of Overwatch possibly similar to Call of Duty
How could the Battle Pass work? Not everything about the Pass is known yet, but we already know:
- There will be live seasons
- Each live season comes with a Battle Pass
- The Pass has a free path and a premium path that costs money
- Heroes will be unlocked through the free path
- If you buy the premium pass, you unlock a new hero immediately
Under Jon Spector’s tweet, it is clear that many questions remain unanswered. How much time must one invest in the game to unlock heroes? How do you unlock heroes if you missed them in a Battle Pass? Currently, there are no concrete answers to these questions.
However, Activision Blizzard already stated some time ago that they want to model such systems on their most successful example: Call of Duty.
In Call of Duty, you also unlock the new weapons of a season through the Battle Pass. Here you find two new weapons always at level 15 and level 31 out of 100. Each level, referred to as “Tier”, takes 40 to 60 minutes to complete. This also depends on how well you play.
The premium pass costs 1,000 CoD points (approximately €10). For 150 CoD points (approximately €1.50), you can skip individual levels. In addition, there is always a large Battle Pass bundle for 2,400 CoD points (approximately €24), which gives you extra cosmetics and lets you level up 20 levels in the pass.
If you miss a weapon because you couldn’t reach the levels in a season, you will unlock the weapons later through gameplay challenges. “3 Melee Kills in 15 different matches” would be a classic task for a new weapon.
How this will work in Overwatch 2 remains to be seen.
How are the reactions to the announcement? Under Jon Spector’s tweet, there is hardly anyone who is happy about the changes. There are threats of boycott and attempts to explain why having heroes in the Battle Pass would be a bad idea for Overwatch 2:
- @OWJaeger: “I have invested well over 3,000 hours in your game […], but if you do this, I won’t touch OW2.”
- @MirrorkatFeces: “So, heroes won’t be unlocked automatically? That’s a mistake.”
- @NotTheRealRin: “This is a really concerning change and I want you to know that it’s dangerous for the game. One of the best points of Overwatch is that everyone is equal. Everyone has access to the same characters.”
However, there are also other voices. @plantarctica writes that he has been playing Overwatch since 2020 and has never experienced a new hero being added to the game. He thinks this new system is quite normal and that many competitors do the same. For him, it’s not a tragic change. He wonders instead why people are so upset about it.
Let us know your opinion on the topic and leave a comment. If you want to read more about Overwatch 2, check this out: Beta for Overwatch 2 ends with a cryptic message – Is Blizzard introducing a new fox heroine?
