According to an old concept art from a developer of the game, Overwatch 2 could have a Battle Pass. A model already adopted by many competing titles.
Halo Infinite, Fortnite, Call of Duty, Valorant. There are many games that have adopted the Battle Pass model. And one of the most anticipated FPS of the next few years could follow suit.
A Battle Pass system for Overwatch 2?
Overwatch might succumb to one of the trends in modern online gaming. Expected since 2019, the sequel to Blizzard’s hit FPS will reach another major milestone. After an alpha reserved only for professional players and developers, the game will be approached by part of the general public on April 26 with its first closed beta. The opportunity to discover the changes brought by Overwatch 2, new maps, new characters and more.
If the interest of Blizzard is above all to test its servers, and to ensure that the balancing and the redesign of the known people are correct, the editor will be able to collect the opinion of the players on the new mechanics. And one of them could have revealed itself in an artwork by Jayson Kirby. The artist who worked on the user interface of Overwatch games until 2020 has shared some of his works on Artstation. And on one of the images, we can see that a Battle Pass is in preparation.
Paid Battle Pass or not? The question remains
More concretely, we see Bastion or one of its congeners, the list of accessible menus, unlocked rewards and above all a “Battle Pass” line below the store. Something to suggest that Blizzard will follow suit and adopt this formula in Overwatch 2. Remember that it is above all akin to a modern monetization mechanism, but which in most cases does not necessarily require checkout. The feature is primarily used to reward players for their loyalty with new items, skins and other items that can only be unlocked during the current season.
Currently, Overwatch offers a system that comes close to this from time to time. For example, for the current Anniversary Remix event, players can earn a series of rewards around a character each week. All you have to do is play a certain number of games, or even less if you win, to unlock them. It remains to be seen how the publisher wants to implement this new mechanic in Overwatch 2, at least if it makes it to the final game. The concept art in question dates back to 2020 at the latest and the interface, like their content, may have changed in the meantime. However, the image in question mentions challenges and rewards for playing a quick match. It will be necessary to wait for Blizzard to officially communicate on it to be fixed.