Blizzard’s Overwatch franchise is no stranger to criticism. Whether it’s loot boxes being seen as a form of gambling for children, bad metas, forcing role lock in competitive modes, or not updating their game for the better part of two years, many gamers were fed up and left Blizzard’s most recent original IP. But there in the distance…hope! Blizzard announced that Overwatch 2 would not only get rid of loot boxes, but it will also be free-to-play. The Overwatch community rejoiced! Surly this signaled that Overwatch 2 would put an end to a streak of bad decisions made by Blizzard…
It didn’t.
In the most recent episode of “How To Make Our Community Mad,” Blizzard sent out surveys asking their already alienated community if they would pay upwards of $45 for the highest rarity of Overwatch skins. For players of VALORANT (Riot Games) and CS:GO (Valve), $45 may seem like a bargain for weapon skins, but for the gamers that have suffered with a poorly supported Overwatch franchise, this idea was publicly tarred and feathered all over social media. The survey would go on to ask gamers their opinions on other proposed prices for weapons, skins, and charms. In addition to the $45 skin options, Blizzard inquired about $25 skins, $30 bundles, and $10 weapon charm bundles. This survey comes on the back of the recent controversy surrounding Diablo Immortal’s microtransactions.
After the backlash from the survey, a Blizzard spokesperson stated, “This survey is entirely intended to better understand player preferences for different types of Overwatch 2 cosmetics. Prices displayed in the survey were randomized per user and are not indicative of final pricing. We plan to share details on our Shop and Battle Pass system closer to our Oct. 4 launch.” It seems the ultimate goal was to gauge how much gamers are willing to pay for these cosmetic items without losing anymore players from the Overwatch playerbase.
Image from: Blizzard
