Overwatch 2 becomes Free2Play and removes loot boxes – this is how the shooter wants to earn your money

Blizzard is now reporting with new information about Overwatch 2. One of the biggest changes compared to its predecessor: The loot system will no longer exist. Instead, Blizzard uses other monetization strategies.

Overwatch 2 is scheduled to be released by Blizzard on October 4th, 2022 as a Free2Play game. In contrast to the first part of the hero shooter, the developer studio has now announced some fundamental changes in a reveal event.

One of the biggest innovations concerns the monetization strategies within the game. So there will be no more loot boxes. It will also be Free2Play. So how is Overwatch 2 planning to finance itself?

Overwatch 2 relies on Battle Pass and in-game shop

With what means does OW2 want to earn money? With the traditional revenue streams gone, Overwatch 2 needs new features that bring financial gain. For this purpose, the following two features were presented in the reveal event:

As a replacement for the loot system, there will be an in-game shop where you can get hero poses, skins, sayings and other cosmetics.

The advantage for you: You are no longer at the mercy of the random process of the loot boxes and you get the goodies that you really want for your money.

You also have the option to purchase Battle Passes. This also gives you access to exclusive in-game content and you can customize your heroes.

By the way, a new heroine was announced for the Reveal event. We embed the trailer for you here:

Why is the loot system being abolished? With the elimination of loot boxes, players have more control over which items they want to acquire.

Lead Hero Designer Geoff Goodman said during the Overwatch 2 reveal event, “Players will have far more control over how they interact with the game and how they choose to purchase new content (via theverge.com).

In addition, loot systems generally do not have a particularly good reputation among players. One of the reasons for this could be the gambling character of the loot mechanism.

There was even a lot of controversy back then when it came to loot boxes in Overwatch.

Everyone has to decide for themselves whether they like to buy loot boxes and let themselves be surprised or whether they prefer to buy specific items.

Due to the similarity of loot box systems to gambling, there can also be major problems on the part of the developer studios. For example, the successful MMORPG Lost Ark was banned in Belgium and the Netherlands because of this similarity.

What do you think of loot boxes? Write it to us in the comments.