Why Blizzard believes Overwatch 2’s battle pass won’t break the game
When Overwatch fans realized that developer Blizzard Entertainment planned to restrict access to new Overwatch 2 heroes — like the just-revealed support ninja Kiriko — behind the game’s battle pass system, they (rightfully) had strong concerns. Blocking all players from accessing all heroes seems to run counter to the original game’s design. In the first Overwatch, players had unfettered access to the entire roster, enabling them to switch up a team’s lineup and counter-pick heroes on the fly.
But Blizzard believes that the switch to charge for new heroes, or ask players to spend time earning them, in Overwatch 2 does not inherently imbalance the game. Overwatch 2 will remain competitive and fair, in Blizzard’s opinion, if some players get access to new heroes later, and the studio also believes that there are important distinctions that separate the original, 6-year-old Overwatch from its upcoming free-to-play sequel.
“We do believe that Overwatch is a highly competitive game, and we think that that’s something that resonates with our players,” Overwatch game director Aaron Keller said in a Zoom call with media on Tuesday. “And even with this change, we think that it will continue to be a highly competitive game. We know that that’s really important for our players, and we have heard [that players] are worried about the difference in access to heroes per team. We think that there are a lot of changes to the game and a lot of details in this system, where we think that the game will still be highly competitive after we go live with this.”
Keller pointed out the five-hero structure of team compositions in Overwatch 2, certain hero reworks, and new passive abilities for some roles will have a substantial impact on how
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