We've Reached Peak Battle Pass, And I Can No Longer Keep Up With My Favorite Games

gamespot.com:

This week, I played my first-ever round of Overwatch. I was immediately impressed by the game's synergistic class-based elements, and how a well-oiled machine of a team can quickly dismantle the opposition. I also loved the colors and art direction and the obviously thoughtful map design. It didn't take long for me to believe the hype--even if this much-anticipated sequel is perhaps too close to the original in certain ways. Still, for new eyes like mine, Overwatch 2 has been a revelation, but has also provided another look at something that has been consuming too much of my free time already: the battle pass.

Moving to a free-to-play model, this is Overwatch's first foray into the battle pass world, swapping out the series' unsavory use of loot boxes for the now-standard system where cosmetics like skins are unlocked through a battle pass. But rather than reserving your goods and paying in installments like layaway, with a battle pass, you pay up front and earn it all with, essentially, minutes played. Daily and weekly challenges, seasonal events, and more are there to help you grind through the game's 80 tiers and unlock everything you've already paid for.

Though others may disagree, I don't actually find this system predatory. It's at least better than the alternatives we've seen. Given the ballooning budgets of massive projects such as Overwatch 2, I find the battle pass to be a reasonable middle ground that manages to dodge the use of both loot boxes and pay-to-win tactics while also creating an in-game economy that sustains games meant to live on for years to come. Where this system does give me grief, however, is in how it asks me to budget my time, because when so many live-service games are using this system, I