Was there ever an official answer to that? I know just about everyone can say what they think is ture, even I’ve done that, but I don’t think I’ve heard anyone from Blizz give a clear yes or no. They said cosmetics will transfer if you own OW1 and that OW1 will be getting heroes, maps and so on, but this? And now the first beta needs you to own OW1 to play. Does that mean only the first beta requires that, or any following beta will as well? There’s just so many contradicting answers around.
Think like the legendary and origins editions we have now. Both require the base game but you get more content with each bundle. You wont be able to just buy the pve. Bevause thats basically all your actually buying. Ow1 will just become ow2.
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OW2 is a standalone PvE game using an upgraded engine.
The upgraded engine and new heroes, together with new maps, will be given to existing Overwatch players for free. Only the PvE part will cost money.
Likely the PvP portion of the game will go free to play as well, so if you’re not interested in the PvE, probably your only expense might be a battle pass if they put that in.
I mean the PVP upgrades are free if you own the base game… I some how imagine basically OW1 will cease to exist after OW 2 comes out. You just buy OW 2 and get the PVP as well as the PVE elements.
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Only it doesn’t look like it. OW2 is listed as separate game since the beginning and it’s got a whole separate icon when you open “games” on Blizz’s webpage and news on the launcher classify it as “Overwatch 2” rather than just “Overwatch”. Not to mention, there wouldn’t be much need for Jeff to “fight for you to keep your unlocks” if it’s an add-on. It does look like they’re gonna treat it more like WoW and WoW Classic. And while you seem to get Classic for free with WoW subsctiption, they mostly treated as separate. So yeah, it does look like it is gonna end up two different things on the launcher.
That will definitely not happen. If it did, all OW2 would have to offer would be the story mode, that’s too little to call it “sequel”. Far more likely, you’re gonna have OW1 that’s just PvP and OW2 that’s PvP and PvE in the shop.
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You will only be able to buy OW2 after the launch so no, it won’t require you to own OW1.
The only benefit of owning OW1 is the cosmetics being carried over to OW2.
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Imo they should just rebrand OW2 as an expansion really.
OW1 and OW2 PvP is literally the same game only that it’s a new engine.
upgraded version of the same engine even.
Not correct completely. There is only one client. “Overwatch”. Once the PvE is getting released it is more of a DLC for the base game and gives you the option to use the PvE content from the main menu.
What we will get sometime this year is the big “2.0 PvP Patch” which gives all OW1 owners the new content and engine upgrades for free. The “OW2 DLC (PvE)” is getting released at a later time.
That’s what you’d think, but they might as well split it into two.
No way they’d release the PvP stuff without OW2 being in the shop at the same time. Story mode will come in later, for sure, but there totally is gonna be OW2 to buy. If they just gave the PvP part to OW1 before, the average consumer might think this is what OW2 is and would not bother getting it when it comes out.
I don’t know why people on the forums are starting to say that the upgraded engine will be on OW1, too, when that was never mentioned & answered anywhere.
You have any links to this?
To participate in the OW2 Beta, you need to own an OW1 license, meaning you cannot play with a suspended/banned account or if you just simply don’t own the game itself.
As far i am aware, once OW2 is released you can most likely buy the PvP seperate from the PvE.
All PvP content was planned to be pushed for free, PvE was the seperate expansion locked behind a paywall.
I mean, if you want links… it’s literally everywhere.
If it was their point since a few years back, it should have been reported by many sources.
If they aren’t pushing the new engine to OW1, it means that these clients run seperately, meaning it’ll require even more server space.
Just see it as a patch they would’ve brought out normally, it’s just not logical to think they wouldn’t push it to OW1… since well… they would most likely lose money.
I’ve kept up with every OW2 related news, articles, Q&A, and interviews.
And every time they were asked about the monetization format for OW2 & OW1 going forward, they literally declined to answer those questions, every time.
So, unless you found a very small article that went under the radar by the entire community, you’re probably misremembering things and confusing things said by word of mouth.
As far as the OW2 beta participation, that’s only for the closed beta.
For the open beta, I’m sure they will do what they did with OW1 and make it available for everyone to try out.
And using that as a way to assume that OW2 will have the PvE purchasable separately is a bold assumption.
Because what you’re describing as “purchasing the PvP & PvE separately” is literally OW1 (only PvP) and OW2 (PvP & PvE). Just like how they have marketed it, so far.
They said it will be one client, meaning all client improvements and so on will be moved over.
Unless of course they will remove our licenses meaning we’d have to pay for the entire game again.
Yeah that’s pretty much spot on.
Closed beta will of course only have players from OW1 since they are looking for proper feedback and players who are experienced with the environment.
I know it’s a bold assumption that they will be sold seperately, though i think it would be the best thing to do for new players.
As PvE might not really strike every player, the engine improvements and so forth might interest some new players.
Meaning those players can save some money because they only wanted PvP, they could always expand to PvE if they change their mind.
Just more logical thinking, though knowing Blizz… not really a thing i should be doing huh.
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Ohhh. I didn’t realize they gave an answer about the engine upgrades in the start 1st press release Q&A.
In that case, I do see the PvP & PvE being available for purchase separately, very possible.
True, PVP and PVE will probably be in different sections of the main menu so it’s easy to block the access for any of them behind a paywall (I can already picture the section being greyed out when you didn’t pay for the PVP or PVE content).
The one question is “will they be trying to advertise PVE to get a new playerbase ?” and “how much effort will they put into it” ?
It’ll be interesting to see how many players bought only the PVE content and if they’ll pay for the PVP content later on… ?
Also, one question that is pretty unclear is the addition of new heroes (in a distant future like 2024 for instance). Will they be released at the same time for both PVP and PVE ?
We don’t even know if those additional heroes will be featured in the story mode at some point. We’re still quite in the dark when it comes to PVE, tbh…
As far as I know with the engine vs. client thing they have said they will be integrated, but I seem to remember a qualifier, Jeff said something like “eventually.”
I don’t remember exactly, but I got the impression that they would start out as two separate clients and eventually merge. I don’t really know why they’d do that, but I remember having that impression.
Either way, they’ve confirmed that new heroes, maps, and game modes will be available to OW1 players without an additional purchase. It’s going to be the campaign mode and likely the hero missions that will require purchase, and I imagine if you haven’t paid for OW1 when OW2 rolls around you’ll just have to buy OW2 to play PvP or PvE.
Wouldn’t that be unfair to charge the same price for the PVE upgrade and another OW2 package (that includes both PVP and PVE) ?
OW1 can be found at a laughable low price in 2022 but new players should still pay a higher price than us to get both PVP and PVE. Us veteran OW players should have a lower price tag since we will be only missing the PVE content.
If there was it was not clear, hence the fact the answers here are a mix of official announcements, implications from Blizz, common sense and speculation.
With that in mind here is my vague stab at how I think things will go, it’s a bit nuts and difficult to make clear, sorry I did try. Firstly though OW2 as we understand it is basically an engine and graphics overall to OW1, substantive updates to PvP, plus the new PvE content, the question is how that will be released and what happens to OW1.
I’ve also tried to gauge my certainty here a bit. This has a mix of some official announcements, implied features, common sense and multiple layers of speculation.
With all that in mind it seems like…
- OW1 will absolutely receive updates like the new engine and graphics, 5v5, new heroes, Push. Essentially a remaster/rework/expansion.
- OW2 will most likely be launched as a technically separate game, that you will have to buy, containing PvE and story elements. If you don’t have OW1 it will almost definitely be bundled in, either for free or heavily discounted. If how have OW1 there’s a slim chance of a OW2 discount.
- These will have to have some level of overlap , like so you don’t have to close and open different apps or whatever. I’m fairly confident though they will technically be separate titles even if they are massively interwoven to the point they seem like one title.
- This divide is because OW1 (the PvP) seems very likely to go free to play while OW2 is 100% paywalled. If OW1 goes F2P it will most likely happen alongside the OW2 launch.
- There’s a chance for some OW2 exclusive PvP elements. That’s quite unlikely from launch but things may go that way in the future, e.g. Push is very likely go straight into into OW1 at launch, but if they make another new game mode later that may be OW2 exclusive. Almost certainly though there will be OW2 exclusive cosmetics that can be used in OW1.
- It is unclear if future OW2 PvE updates (i.e. new missions) will be free to OW2 owners or some form of paywalled. Basically it could be like the Archives events where one day the new mission is in the live game, WoW where you buy expansions or something like an episodic game (e.g. Life is Stange, Telltales Walking Dead) that sort of sits between the two. My guess is more the WoW model.
- There is also a good chance that a battlepass will be introduced to OW1 if it goes F2P, maybe at launch, maybe later. What form it will take or how owning OW2 affects your OW1 pass is anyone’s guess.
- No idea how it fits in to this specific discussion but OW mobile if almost certainly planned for the future.
- There may also be a long term play to phase out OW1 in one way or another. Most likely the lines between OW1 and OW2 blur so we end up with just OW. Some elements are PvP, some PvE, some F2P, some not, some Mobile, some not. It sounds complicated but I think over time playing the game it’ll become quite natural.
- I also suspect there is a fairly decent chance this whole thing blows up for one reason or another and they either change this structure entirely (god knows what into), kill OW outright or launch OW3 in 2047.
So yeah, that’s a lot. If I’m anywhere near right I get why they wouldn’t lay that out there, it’s a mess. My reading between the lines of what little they have said with my tin foil hat on makes me think this is what they’re sort of going for. I can see it working tbh (assuming like OW2 is good and popular) but it’s a nightmare to try and lay out and explain and there will be parts of it they won’t commit to/announce till at least the beta is over.
edits: spelling, a little more clarity at the start. Fleshed out one point.
Yeah, I have my doubts about something just mentioned in a panel in 2019 with Jeff still around. Not because Jeff lied or anything, but, apparently, he was the one fighting to even move all skins between the two (and that is actually promised on the OW2 website). So now I wouldn’t be surprised if they were forced to go back on it, especially since most people didn’t even watch it. From a marketing point of view, it makes much more sense to show it off as a separate item with its “redefined sequel” and not make it stick on to “OW1”.