I can’t say I saw this one coming. After playing the Overwatch beta on PC for the past week or so, I loved the game but was unsure about its potential model. Given the other arena shooters forthcoming,
and Blizzard’s focus on F2P games as of late, Overwatchbeing free-to-play with microtransactions almost seemed inevitable.
But now? Blizzard has just informed GameStop (via Game Informer) that Overwatch is not just going to be a $60 PC title, but it’s going to be released on PS4 and Xbox One at the same time, tentatively next winter.
This is, quite frankly, mind-blowing.
After the initial shock, it makes a certain amount of sense, once you look at the surrounding factors. I have to believe Blizzard shared my concerns about howOverwatch would monetize as a free-to-play game.
It’s not the type of game where you sell XP or currency boosts to get unlocks faster, nor will have an established Team TISI +%Fortress-esque community clamoring to get hats. And you can sell skins, but in an FPS where you’re always behind the camera, they probably won’t offer as much value to players like we see in top-down MOBAs, where you always get to gaze upon what you’ve bought.
In my beta review, almost as a joke, I suggested that Blizzard slap a campaign onOverwatch and sell it for $60. And now it seems, they’re at least doing at least half of that.
The move to consoles alongside a PC release honestly makes a lot of sense as well. The entire time I was playing it, I was doing fine with the mouse and keyboard (despite not being a PC shooter person), but it was clear to me this game had to come to PS4 and Xbox One at some point, as it could feel amazing there as well.
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