Overwatch 2 is in such a shit storm after gutting its promised PvE modes that we almost forgot about the state of the free-to-play hero shooter’s economy. But as players have pointed out, the way Blizzard is doling out currency for those that don’t pay real money has been laid bare this week, as the hypothetical player who has just been earning credits by playing can finally afford one (1) of the game’s top skins…seven months since the sequel launched in October 2022.
For those not in the know, after some shifts in its economy, Overwatch 2 has two currencies. One of these, you earn through the battle pass that can be used for cosmetics and collectibles in the game’s Hero Gallery that originate from the first Overwatch. If you want to buy a skin that debuted in Overwatch 2, you have to use the second currency that you can earn through weekly challenges or by paying up with real cash. However, the weekly challenges grant you a paltry 60 coins, and a legendary skin costs a whopping 1900 of those. Overwatch 2 has been out for 227 days as of this writing, which is 32 weeks. Multiply that by 60 and you get 1920 credits. And that’s only if you have diligently completed your challenges every week and have bought absolutely zero cosmetics with the coins you’ve earned until this point. If that’s you, mazel tov, you can finally afford that legendary skin you’ve been eyeing for half a year.
Read more: Overwatch 2 Multiplayer Isn’t Good Enough To Justify Gutting Its Long-Promised PvE
Weekly challenges are not typically hard to pull off, and are often just measurements of games played, won, and damage done. And yes, I have played Overwatch 2 almost every week since launch because I’m a clown, but the prospect of having to be this focused on one game with zero breaks in order to afford one (1) high-rarity skin is just ludicrous when you spell it out. Even as a near-daily player, I’ve set rules for myself to make sure I don’t overspend on cosmetics and have been pretty satisfied with how little money I’ve put in. But it really does make you wonder what Blizzard thinks the incentive is for people to play its game when it makes the “free” rewards this arduous to earn.
The entire situation is pretty laughable, but it’s the least of the game’s problems right now. Blizzard has come under fire this week for announcing it’s making huge cuts to Overwatch 2’s planned PvE modes, including removing talent trees that let you customize your character’s abilities. There’s still some story content coming, and director Aaron Keller has apologized, but it doesn’t sound like it will be quite what Blizzard promised in 2019 when it revealed the game. The entire situation has really brought the company’s approach to the sequel into question, as the PvE modes were core to the original pitch. Now we have a game with costly rewards, two fewer players, and what sounds like more Archives missions in place of a more robust campaign.