Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 starts with an upsurge in the video game lineup

The original Overwatch, released six years ago, remains one of the most iconic games of all time – an obsessive hero shooter for all skill levels set in a utopian, multicultural vision for the future. In both games, two teams of differently designed heroes compete to achieve objectives by eliminating opponents and team strategies.

For the 60 million people who bought Overwatch for up to $60, the new Overwatch 2 is a free upgrade that promises steadier content releases than its predecessor and addresses one of the top fan complaints. For new players, Overwatch 2 is as charming as it is difficult to put down, and comes at a time when the previous title’s unique focus on the genre has lost its novelty.

“We wanted to expand the reach of the franchise, and one way to do that is by breaking down financial barriers to accessing the game,” said Walter Kong, Overwatch general manager. “We also wanted to address the needs of existing players. We’d heard for years that content flow was important for engagement. With Overwatch 2, one of our big goals was to ensure that our organization could be sustained over the long term.”

Activision Blizzard is counting on Overwatch 2 to spur the dwindling excitement over subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment’s original games and an overall post-pandemic gaming slump. Launched in 2016, Overwatch was the developer’s last major release alongside 2022’s Diablo Immortal, a smartphone iteration of its horror RPG franchise developed with NetEase Inc. Activision’s annual installment in the hugely successful Call of Duty franchise arrives October 28, but it’ll skip to 2023, pressuring Overwatch 2 to breathe life into the publisher’s anemic calendar. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision Blizzard also funds an expensive, international Overwatch League esports franchise that has faded from mainstream interest over its four-year lifespan.

Overwatch became a $1 billion franchise within a year of its debut. Hardcore gamers were drawn to its innovative spin-on shooter and strategy mechanics. Ranging from a Swiss paramedic with angel wings to a Chinese climatologist with an ice blaster, the game’s cast of loveable heroes appealed to people who had never touched a digital weapon in their lives.

But a steady stream of new content has been necessary to keep Overwatch relevant in an increasingly competitive multiplayer gaming space. While the gameplay loop is uniquely satisfying, over the past few years players have said that Overwatch content’s release rate has been too slow and inappropriate. Some complained that Blizzard never really provided a coherent story for the game.

More of a sequel than an entirely new game, Overwatch 2’s innovations include shrinking teams from six players to five and introducing a new tug-of-war-style competitive mode. Its most significant departure from the original – cooperative gameplay missions called player-versus-environment – has been pushed back to sometime next year. In Overwatch 2, part of the story is left behind. Game Director Aaron Keller said launching the new Player vs. Environment mode at the same time as the updated Competitive mode was too difficult, on top of a commitment to new content.

Overwatch 2 feels less like a sequel and more like an answer to fan requests for a fresher-smelling Overwatch. The original game went out of service prior to the release of Overwatch 2, rolling player cosmetics and stats into the new version. The new characters are endearingly charismatic and incredibly fun to play as. The new game encourages more action and less standing behind a sign. Most notably, Blizzard says it’s updating more regularly and offering a more even rate of hype-generating characters, outfits, maps, modes, and stories. Players will experience the new content through the game’s “Battle Pass” – a monetization model popularized by Epic Games Inc.’s 2017 hit Fortnite.

The Battle Pass allows players to waive the upfront payment for the game and instead opt for a system – either a free basic version or a premium version for $10 – that grants them pre-determined content for playing or completing challenges . The game launches with three additional characters, but new players have to play 100 games before they can unlock old characters from the original game, a twist that players online have complained about.

“The original game was released as one big box. Most of the revenue came early. We want to develop a model that meets the needs of our players, namely to continuously develop new content for the game over a frequent and consistent and long period of time,” said Keller, citing the fact that the team is now working on content, which will be released in 18 months.

Keeping cosmetic upgrades like character weapons or costumes behind a Battle Pass could keep players hooked to Overwatch 2 while encouraging them to spend in-game. It’s unclear how Overwatch 2’s gameplay will remain balanced unless every player has access to every character from the start, but games like Riot Games Inc.’s League of Legends have managed to do it with more than four times the number of champions.

“If we do a good job of driving engagement, we can look forward to sustainable revenue from that,” Kong said. “It will be our job to ensure there is enough excitement and enough new content and experiences to keep players passionate and engaged.”

It worked for Fortnite. According to analytics firm NewZoo, whenever Epic Games releases a new season of content with an accompanying Battle Pass, “there is a massive increase in (mostly returning) players. We’re also seeing an increase in average daily playtime for the month following a new season release,” said NewZoo analyst Richard Hordijk.

Most top online competitive games are free with some sort of paid opt-in monetization system like a battle pass or loot boxes. It’s symbolic of games’ shift from finished products to “vendor platforms,” ​​said David Zendle, a computer science lecturer at the University of York who studies video game monetization.

Game publishers like Activision aim for predictable revenues. “It’s still possible to make huge amounts of money selling a game as a product, but you can see how newer approaches “typically associated with live service gaming” help manage risk and therefore appeal to people investing in the sector. “

Activision Blizzard is currently owned by Microsoft Corp. acquired for $69 billion. Its most recent earnings report showed that revenue was down 15% year over year and adjusted earnings per share were nearly 50% lower. The company’s main earner, Call of Duty, disappointed fans with its latest release last fall, drawing negative reviews and facing stiff competition from new additions to the popular Halo and Battlefield series. Overwatch 2 has also cleared its share of hurdles. The launch was delayed to give the team “the additional time they need to deliver the experiences their communities deserve,” Activision said in its annual report.

There was also turbulence in the creative team. Over the past 18 months, Overwatch has lost its former game director, Jeff Kaplan, as well as a lead character artist, executive producer, and lead hero designer. According to Keller, Overwatch now has 16 times as many outside developers working on the game as it had on the original development team.

Overwatch 2 gives players what they’ve been wanting: more lovable characters, faster gameplay, a different mode, and more cosmetics to marvel at. Blizzard’s strategy for getting there could prove controversial.