MeinMMO demon Cortyn has discovered something in Overwatch 2. Something expensive. So expensive that one can only be frustrated about it.
As you know, I still cling to Overwatch 2. It remains a beautiful game that I play with friends 1-2 evenings a week. Especially currently with the Lucioball event, it is just fun.
But now there is a new offer in the shop that leaves me just staring at the screen in disbelief: A weapon skin for a whopping 80 €.
But before I get upset, let’s quickly go over the facts:
The weapon skin is for Reinhardt and replaces his hammer with a demonic axe with fire effects. The weapon comes in 4 different stages:
- Stage 1: The base skin of the weapon.
- Stage 2: The weapon develops over the course of a match.
- Stage 3: The weapon has a special reload animation.
- Stage 4: There is a special animation for kills.
Just to be clear: The skin and the effects really look good. There is absolutely nothing to complain about. This is definitely a weapon that Reinhardt fans will want to have.
The full unlocking of the skin costs 80 mythical prisms. You can either buy them for around 80 euros, or you use all the mythical prisms that you receive from the current premium battle pass – which then means that you won’t receive the mythical skin from the battle pass.
But just to break it down again in detail: These are the costs.
- The base skin costs 50 mythical prisms. So 50 €.
- The weapon is supposed to develop a bit over the course of a match? Another 10 € please.
- You want a reload animation (‘Flourish’) for the weapon? Yes, exactly, another 10 €.
- Oh, and the highlight of the weapon, the kill animation? Sure, another 10 €.
You have to drop a whopping 80 € on the table for the weapon to have its full functionality.
I repeat, because it is so absurd: 80. Euro.
That is more than the current full price of a game. Accordingly, this is also discussed with great anger in the subreddit:
Offer comes late so that people buy it with money
That the mythic skin for Reinhardt’s axe would come, I already knew in advance – precisely because I inform myself a lot about the game, as it is part of my job. This means that you could save up the mythical prisms and forgo other skins.
But if one does not do that – because one does not inform oneself every day in advance – then one is now facing a problem. Because most will have completed the battle pass for the current season and thus bought the mythical skin for Ashe.
However, if one now realizes that the Reinhardt weapon skin would be much more interesting, there is only one solution: Pay a lot.
In – unfortunately typically – Blizzard fashion, there is again a “great” bundle for 40 euros. This includes stage 1 of the weapon skin, 2,000 Overwatch coins, and 20 level-ups for the battle pass. The bundle is of course a temporary offer.
This looks like a really good offer, if you compare it to the “direct price” of the weapon skin.
However, you do not really “save” much with it either. Because if you want the entire weapon skin, you still have to buy 30 prisms for 25 €. Even then, you have spent 65 € (and also a few more things that you didn’t actually want).
I also say it openly: I have no idea what a fair price for an elaborate weapon skin in Overwatch is. I do not know whether something like that should cost 5 €, 10 €, or 15 €.
But I know that 80 € is only one thing: a rip-off. Once again, they reach for the wallets of the most loyal players and test how far they can go.
I find it really sad. Just sad.
Overwatch 2 is a game that still brings me a lot of joy in gameplay and that I like to play with my friends. But at the same time, there are these “offers” in the shop that are beyond anything that can somehow be justified.
Every time I am in the main menu and see even the label “Shop” with the addition “New!”, I feel bad. It is like a huge, glaring blemish in a game that is fundamentally too good to have to resort to such lousy rip-off offers.
