Tuesday, October 4th 2022
It's Go Time! Overwatch 2 is Live Now and Free to Play on Console and PC With New Heroes, Maps, and More
Today marks the beginning of a new era for Blizzard Entertainment's award-winning franchise: Overwatch 2 is live now and free to play worldwide with cross-platform play and progression for all players on Windows PC via Battle.net, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch consoles! Setting the stage for years to come, Overwatch 2 will receive substantial seasonal updates, often including features such as new heroes, maps, game modes, cosmetics, and more released at a regular cadence.
Log in today to play as the recently unveiled support hero Kiriko: a fierce protector with a heart of gold. She joins tank hero Junker Queen and damage hero Sojourn as three game-changing women rounding out a playable roster that now includes 35 heroes. And what's a new era without a new look and feel? Going live today are updated appearances for every hero, numerous hero ability kit reworks, a new five-versus-five multiplayer format, six new maps, the new Push game mode, a new ping system, a redesigned competitive mode, and more—all experienced through updated graphics and audio engines. Additionally, the diverse cast of characters has never felt more alive, with over 40,000 new voice lines in the game.
Overwatch 2 launches today with an all-new item shop replacing the previous Loot Box system, a free Battle Pass for all players, and a purchasable Premium Battle Pass for each season. Both versions of the Battle Pass deliver a slew of features for players to enhance their Overwatch 2 experience and will add new heroes at periodic intervals after the first two seasons.
The Premium Battle Pass, which provides instant access when new heroes are added in addition to other benefits, is priced at 1,000 Overwatch Coins per season (equivalent of $10 USD), unlocking in-game skins and other content. All players will have the ability to earn Overwatch Coins at no cost through in-game challenges each season, which can be saved up and used to purchase a Premium Battle Pass or other items available in the shop.
Season One, now live, features cyber punk-themed items for both the free and paid Battle Pass tracks: skins, emotes, victory poses, highlight intros, player icons, weapon charms, sprays, voice lines, and more. The Season One Premium Battle Pass includes the first ever Mythic skin—a customizable skin tier new for Overwatch 2—for Genji.
Season Two will feature a new to-be-announced tank hero and new map. Seasons are planned to roll over every nine weeks, each complete with a unique theme and brand-new collectibles with which players can customize and personalize their Overwatch 2 experience.
Development work is taking place on the much-anticipated Overwatch 2 PvE mode, which is expected to begin rolling out next year; release plans will be announced at a later date.
"Today is a massive new beginning for the Overwatch community, and we can't wait for them to experience not only everything going live now, but everything coming in the months and years ahead," said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're also excited to welcome new heroes all around the world, across PC and console, into the bright and hopeful vision of the future that this game universe has always represented."
Source:
Blizzard
Log in today to play as the recently unveiled support hero Kiriko: a fierce protector with a heart of gold. She joins tank hero Junker Queen and damage hero Sojourn as three game-changing women rounding out a playable roster that now includes 35 heroes. And what's a new era without a new look and feel? Going live today are updated appearances for every hero, numerous hero ability kit reworks, a new five-versus-five multiplayer format, six new maps, the new Push game mode, a new ping system, a redesigned competitive mode, and more—all experienced through updated graphics and audio engines. Additionally, the diverse cast of characters has never felt more alive, with over 40,000 new voice lines in the game.
The Premium Battle Pass, which provides instant access when new heroes are added in addition to other benefits, is priced at 1,000 Overwatch Coins per season (equivalent of $10 USD), unlocking in-game skins and other content. All players will have the ability to earn Overwatch Coins at no cost through in-game challenges each season, which can be saved up and used to purchase a Premium Battle Pass or other items available in the shop.
Season One, now live, features cyber punk-themed items for both the free and paid Battle Pass tracks: skins, emotes, victory poses, highlight intros, player icons, weapon charms, sprays, voice lines, and more. The Season One Premium Battle Pass includes the first ever Mythic skin—a customizable skin tier new for Overwatch 2—for Genji.
Season Two will feature a new to-be-announced tank hero and new map. Seasons are planned to roll over every nine weeks, each complete with a unique theme and brand-new collectibles with which players can customize and personalize their Overwatch 2 experience.
Development work is taking place on the much-anticipated Overwatch 2 PvE mode, which is expected to begin rolling out next year; release plans will be announced at a later date.
"Today is a massive new beginning for the Overwatch community, and we can't wait for them to experience not only everything going live now, but everything coming in the months and years ahead," said Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're also excited to welcome new heroes all around the world, across PC and console, into the bright and hopeful vision of the future that this game universe has always represented."
54 Comments on It's Go Time! Overwatch 2 is Live Now and Free to Play on Console and PC With New Heroes, Maps, and More
Back to topic.
Will check it out sometime in future as it is for free, but can it be better than Paladins?
Good that paladin showed where OW place is. And thanks to them OW2 is for free, hehe.
It seems to be a popular post though, based on the comments here.
Yes, I also paid for and played OW1 for quite some time, but Blizzard managed to kill everything that was fun with the game over time.
I know a lot of sheet from Blizzard and was one of those beta testers for OV1. I refuse to give out my cellphone to play a god damned game. Because I know that as soon as I do so they are going to be pestering me/messaging me with adds on the cell phone. OR selling my private data to the advertising market. NOT ONE MOMENT THAT I BELIEVE THAT THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF USING MY CELL PHONE IS FOR ANTI CHEATING.... This is market speak/double speak for tell the masses A reason, BUT NOT THE ONLY REASON for a corporation to pull something they want to do as well.
It's like telling the gamers that your analytical data that is being use is to make sure that you get the best "GAMING" Experience..
When in reality they will use your data and place you against someone can have NO chance in winning in order to force/entice you to upgrade your equipment. This of course will cost you money for those upgrades so that you can be competitive.
The corporations will deny this but this has been going on for years in the video gaming industry as a whole.
Secondly if you think this is going to stop what Blizzard Commented about "Bad Cheaters". Just look at the company who promoted a REAL abusive work culture in the past. Who brown nosed with China because they want access with their games into that totalitarian country.
Why do you think Kaplan suddenly Resigned before the crap came down and people including that long haired, receding hairline hippie President resigned when allegations of sexual misconduct happened?
Do you actually think I can trust a company that has shitted on people that I knew who worked there for years with promises that they did not keep?
I can almost guarantee you that someone in Asia and/or Eastern Europe will find a work around on this Security Feature in a few weeks. If there is money to be made someone will break this feature.
Blizzard Entertainment IMHO is Corrupt to the bone and this person, who as plenty of disposable income just shut his wallet on that company.
I bought the game in 2016 for $40. Then down the road I upgraded it and bought skins and such. I even bought the big OverWatch Soldier 76 package with the statue as I thought it was a cool thing to get. I like playing PvE when my injuries to my body started to take it's toll on me. I was having fun and that is what counts.
I have plenty of disposable money to enjoy myself. I was even thinking of just buying a pass but when they pulled that Bullsheet with the phone... Well know it looks like I'll go back to WarFrame or maybe some sort of MMO.
But... I refuse to give out my cellphone to play a god damned game... PERIOD.
Oh man... I have so much cringe, I gotta go take a walk or something. Or maybe kill some babies I don't know. Shit.
I guess I'll take the positive approach and thank Blizzard for saving me time to check this game out. Not with a ten foot pole after THAT.There's a team and a company and a culture behind that game, that's the most painful part of it all imo. That's really all I can say right now, ouch, Blizzard. Ouch.
I just finished writing a rant on a different forum about this. Not blizzard "this", but the phone thing.
The harassment thing, I think it's completely made up to shit on the guy and get the monies but I know some keyboards warriors are eager to jump down on my throat like mountain lions if I elaborate further so that won't be happening today.
But the company *is* corrupt to the bone tho, but so is most of the AAA vidya industry, similar to movie industry, music industry, and so on. I'm not talking about corruption as in "that guy stole money" but as in moral corruption, the kind that can't be fixed by firing someone, as its roots are already deep into the whole corporate structure of the "western world" if you like.
I don't pay much attention to gamer reviews on Metacritic but when the score is this low then there are obviously problems with the game.
This game was always fine imho, but this ruined it for me. It never did really stick for me though, 'okay' for a couple of hours at best. But I won't even consider OW2 now. That's what marketing does here, for me. It made the game worse.
If you ever see a game sexually harassing someone, please let me know, that'll be fun to watch :D
There was also the initial requirement that users provide a cellphone number. This was exacerbated by Blizzard's exclusion of several prepaid cellular services like Cricket as a valid cellular service provider. The cellphone number requirement was apparently to combat cheating but Blizzard has backed on off this and now just require a verified Battle.net account.
Neither one of these primary complaints are about actual gameplay or content, they are problems with operational or administrative aspects of Blizzard's business.