As Overwatch 2 continues its onslaught of $25 skins, its director reveals Blizzard wasn't sure if cosmetics alone could fund the game
The latest Cowboy Bebop skins cost more individually than Overwatch 1 did before its shutdown
At this point, Overwatch 2 has become notorious for its expensive cosmetics. It's not at all unusual to see skins available to buy that cost roughly $25, which is a considerable price for a single in-game outfit. To put it into perspective, that's $5 more than the price of the original Overwatch's standard edition back before the free-to-play sequel replaced it.
The sequel's alteration to the first-person-shooter's monetization certainly raised eyebrows at launch, but it wasn't just the players who had questions. In a recent roundtable interview attended by 12DOVE, game director Aaron Keller revealed that Blizzard "had some worries" regarding whether the game could actually be successful when relying on cosmetics alone.
"When you're developing the way a game is going to fund itself, it can get really complex fast," Keller explains. "I think originally we had some worries about whether Overwatch 2 as a purely cosmetic game, when you have the ability to get cosmetics for a whole roster of heroes, was going to be successful."
These concerns haven't stopped Blizzard from unleashing pricey skins galore, though. It's been pointed out that the most recent ones – the Cowboy Bebop x Overwatch 2 skins – cost as much as the entire anime series on Blu-ray. To clarify, that's one single skin, not even the full collection. Needless to say, buying the whole set would be a rather considered purchase.
There's good news for free-to-play Overwatch 2 players, however, as it's been confirmed that from season 10 onwards, all new heroes will be made playable for everyone immediately. Previously, only those who bought the Premium Battle Pass would be able to get their hands on the latest characters straight away – everyone else had to gradually unlock them through the Free Battle Pass. Along with this change, any older characters you haven't already unlocked will become instantly available, too – the only exception is for new players, who must complete the first-time user experience before everything unlocks.
"After about a year and a half of releasing seasons with heroes in them and without heroes in them, I think we had enough data to see that the game can be successful without having heroes in the Battle Pass," Keller notes in the roundtable interview. "We're confident that by taking them out, we'll be able to continue to be successful."
Be sure to take a look at our roundup of the 25 best FPS games for some top recommendations of new games to play.
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I'm one of 12DOVE's news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.