I remember the first time I got a loot box drop in Overwatch. As someone who was relatively new to online shooters, I could feel my heart pounding. I clicked the prompt, and there was an explosion of light, accompanied by a triumphant little tune. What dropped was a simple purple Moira recolor, but it felt like I’d won the lottery – it felt like I’d been rewarded. During my entire time with Overwatch I probably only bought three skins maximum, accumulating an entire library of cosmetics using the loot box system and rotating events alone. Unfortunately, coming into Overwatch 2, that simply wasn’t the case anymore – loot boxes were gone, and there was yet another battle pass to grind through.
For better or worse, battle passes have become the backbone of online multiplayer games. We recently saw League of Legends scrap its in-game crafting systems for a battle pass, but the results haven’t quite been as expected. The removal of Blue Essence and Hextech Chests has left players feeling like they’ve been robbed of free rewards – there’s no incentive to actually play the game anymore, unless you’ve got a seemingly bottomless wallet.
Overwatch 2 underwent a similar process at launch. Free rewards were scrapped, replaced by a swathe of microtransactions and a battle pass system that was initially essential to unlocking heroes. It seems like a tale as old as time: you can’t have an online game without having some sort of overarching microtransactions.
The result is twofold: people don’t like them and won’t want to play your game, and free players who can’t afford to splash the cash feel like they’re missing out. There’s a distinct lack of reward – why put hours into a game, only to be asked to part with your cash? Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller acknowledges this, noting that playing Overwatch simply hasn’t been “rewarding enough,” and that the return of loot boxes will hopefully help players feel like their time is being well spent.
“Season 15 is bringing loot boxes back to Overwatch, and we’re actually really excited for their return,” he tells me. “When we looked at the game – and we’ve heard this feedback from players but really this is an internal development criticism of Overwatch 2 – we didn’t didn’t feel like Overwatch 2 was rewarding players enough, especially free players, for the time they’ve put into the game.
“We’ve gotten better at that since Overwatch 2 launched – we’re giving away a lot of free currency in our free battle pass – but we really thought that we could do better,” he continues. “Loot boxes are a system that allows us to be pretty generous, and our intention is to be very generous with the way we give loot boxes out to our players.
“As people play and engage with the game, we want them to feel like the game is recognizing that and they’re actually getting something out of it.”
He notes that the system will differ slightly from Overwatch 1 given the original was a boxed product versus an online free-to-play game. “With Overwatch 2, we’re putting a lot of our cosmetics into [loot boxes]. Most of the shop cosmetics we’ve come out with will go into the loot box system, and most of the ones going forward will, too. They’ll be a season behind from what’s going into the shop, but they’re all going to be added to the loot boxes.
“The exciting thing about it is that there’s a lot of different ways you can [earn them]. They’re in both the paid and free track of the battle pass, you can earn them through challenges, and we’re going to bring back the weekly tracker where, when you play games of Overwatch, we’re just going to give you loot boxes for it. In Season 15 we’re also going a little crazy with it: there are Twitch drops, events, a Discord program – if you’re playing over the course of the season you could earn well over 100 loot boxes for free.”
He clarifies that the team “isn’t charging for loot boxes at all.” Instead, “the intent of the system is a reward mechanism for players.”
In many ways the Overwatch 2 Spotlight felt like a breath of fresh air. It’s a symbol that Blizzard’s going back to its roots, while simultaneously modernizing itself with the new perks system and upcoming Stadium mode. I quizzed Keller on those too, of course, so keep your eyes peeled for more.
If you, like me, are tempted to give Overwatch 2 another chance, here’s our rundown of all the Overwatch 2 characters and their abilities to get you up to speed. Alternatively, here’s our list of the best free PC games if you’re looking for something new, but don’t fancy breaking the bank.
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