In case people cant read between the lines

General Discussion
1

“You’ll be able to play OW2 PvP if you own OW1”
A long while ago this was said by the devs. Weather it is still valid , who knows.

That is a HUGE - hint to OW2 PvP going free2play. Its not hard to read between the lines.

Because that means it will probably go free2play, as in OW1 owners don’t have to buy OW2 PvP.
Why dont they have to buy OW2 pvp? Because it will be free for all.
(or maybe not upon analyzing they way the devs separated OW1 players from OW2 players as separate entities. posted in replies below.)

The limits if the PvP goes free is unknown. But that means skins and cosmetics will be sold in some way. Whether it be microtransactions or battle passes or some other new unexpected way.
The PvE will come later and will most likely have a price tag.

That is the only way they can make OW2 work and compete with the top games as far as massive player bases and also massive revenue that those games generate.

IF this indeed happens. There are many ways they can implement this.
They could make it so the arcade and quickplay is unlocked and free, And to play comp and PvE you have to buy the full game.
OW1 owners get to play comp since they bought the game already.

They could have some heroes locked. By the time OW2 comes out there will be around 40 heroes and having 20-25 heroes open and free to play is still a large amount.

Any new heroes that are released will be locked unless you own the game. Or they can sell them to unlock.
There are countless of ways to implement a free2play system.
They dont have to 100% copy the systems used by Valorant, Apex , fortnite, etc.

Lastly im pretty certain OW2 business model wont stay like the current one.
So I doubt they will stick with paying a 1 time price and getting everything for free, forever. Like some people are expecting.

2

i cant remember the exact quote…is that how it was worded??..cause all i recall them saying is that you could continue to play OW1…which is technically free…but not the same thing as “OW2 will be f2p”…(not to mention f2p hasnt really been blizz mo…)

anyway i cant wait to see how badly they botch the microtransaction stuff though…ive said it before…but theres very little that can sour the game for me more than greedy monetization (which is exactly what "free"2play is)

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It’s possible they would convert to free-to-play in the future, but as it stands, “OW2 PvP” is just a patch for Overwatch. If you own Overwatch, you can continue playing Overwatch after the patch. If you don’t, you can’t.

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please i hope to god no comp season passes PLEASE. PLEASE NO SEASONPASSES :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

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Could’ve gone f2p with OW1 earlier but they’ve dug themselves too deep now

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Also something that got forgotten, was back in 2019 they said the upgraded engine was to make OW2 feel like a brand new game.
They also said that the new looks will only be available to OW2 owners.

Which is strange , and it means that OW1 and OW2 will be separate in some way.

Im trying to find the video where this was said.
So far i found this article written after the press conference.

“Blizzard have made a complete overhaul of the Overwatch engine, with the PvE mode and graphics/engine changes totally exclusive to Overwatch 2. While more of the Overwatch + Overwatch 2 worlds are mixed, the graphics upgrade is solely exclusive to Overwatch 2.”

Read more: h ttps://www.tweaktown.com/news/68537/overwatch-2-significant-engine-upgrades-better-graphics-more/index.html

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They CANNOT do this. It won’t work. OW heroes aren’t like Apex heroes. OW heroes are way too meta defining to be locked behind a pay wall. This is the easiest way to make a pay to win game which no one wants.

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If OW2 was free to play, they would just say, OW2 is free to play

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They could do it for PvE though couldn’t they? Although wait NVM, you’re already paying for that.

Idk how they could funnel money into the game. Skins being paid is my first thought

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10

That phrasing is highly misleading, because Overwatch 2 and Overwatch 1 are the same product. The title of Overwatch will change to Overwatch 2 upon its release. So yes, technically the engine update is exclusive to OW2, but you should still expect to experience it for free, since you already own the game.

(Assuming Blizzard’s past announcements remain accurate to their current plan)

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11

It was said here.
This is interesting. Jeff is talking about OW1 players and OW2 players as separate entities.
He says “Shared” multi-player environment.

IF OW1 just becomes OW2 like people think it is. Which i highly think is wrong, then they wouldn’t treat both OW1 and OW2 players as sperate groups and saying its a shared environment where they can both play together.

Here is the link to this. Around 1:54.00

OW1 and OW2 players will play together with the same heroes and same maps BUT i think OW1 players (that dont buy OW2) will experience the game with the old engine instead of the new one, or something like that.

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12

I always took it as a “OW2 might be going free to play”
So that people still continue to buy the game, since OW2 was quite a way off when it was said. Don’t want to destroy the brand with the ‘Overwatch will go free to play in three-four years’ I guessed, but that’s just my interpretation.

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They’ve made that confusing from the beginning, in their effort to brand OW2 as a sequel instead of an expansion, but it’s ultimately two separate releases (that they’ve now finally conceded and decided to release separately instead of holding one back for the other):

  • A patch to the original game (free to existing players)
  • A new set of PvE modes and cosmetics (requiring additional purchase)

“Overwatch 2 players” in that context would refer to those who purchased the expansion set.

As a game developer, I can almost guarantee you that even if they had ever planned to hold owners of the original game back on the old engine, they won’t. The purchase price of the “sequel” would not recover the absurd cost of maintaining two separate game engines for the same live service game over time, so it would never be a good decision for them.

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14

The entire handling of overwatch and it’s sequel has been terrible imo

15

Just like a Nintendo switch and Xbox, and PC player can play together. Even though console OW looks and performs worst than PC OW.

They can play together but are separate groups. Ultimately. With the game looking and performing different on PC than on console.

16

This just seems logically impossible that OW2 would be done like this, or at least far more effort than it would be worth.
Why would they maintain 2 versions of the same game but also have them be entirely synced together, hell, why go through the hassle of using an older engine that limits OW2?
It seems far more likely they’ll just bring everyone to OW2.

17

What you’re talking about is a completely different scenario, though. All of the art assets for OW1 had to be adjusted to work with the updated engine and look. If they wanted to paywall players from receiving the update, that would require making two versions of every material used in every new map, on every new character, and every new skin they release going forward. No one in their right minds would commit to doing something so expensive purely to harm their customers.

Console and PC versions are different builds of the game using the same engine.

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People complain about queue times in this game in its current state. Can you imagine what would happen if they split the playerbase more?

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Im just posting what the developers said. They talk about it like OW1 and OW2 players will be separate entities that can play together. IF OW1 players chose not to buy OW2 or whatever.

Again people are just looking at this like if OW already has a free2play or subscription based system.
OW1 whole player base is already spoiled into getting everything for free.
You think OW1 players would have played $60 for an expansion, when they were used to getting everything for free?

You dont think Blizzard has financial annalists and have meeting about the stock holders and all that telling them how much revenue games like Apex, Fortnite, Valorant are making?
And why doesnt OW just transition into something like that as well.

You have to be blind to not know that the higher ups have noticed how the game industry has changed, and want a piece of it.

Probably wont be much different than having a PC run the game in low settings vs another PC running the game in Ultra.
Just that the OW1 settings wont allow the game to get that high. Might be limited somehow.

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I have little doubt that the monetization model for Overwatch will be seeing changes, and it very well might become free-to-play in the future.

They don’t have to release a separate game or paywall their patches to make that happen, though. Overwatch would not even be the first game they converted to free-to-play years after release; see Starcraft 2.

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