The upcoming PvE for the free-to-play Overwatch 2 shall be paywalled. 

Blizzard Leisure introduced that its co-op Invasion mode will value $15 for everlasting entry to the three-mission mode after it leaves seasonal rotation. In-game cosmetics and forex are additionally included in that bundle. 

Earlier seasonal content material throughout Overwatch 2 and its predecessor was freed from cost. This marks the franchise’s first post-launch seasonal content material gamers must pay for to entry, and bucks a development that is been part of related free-to-play video games for ages. 

Overwatch 2 steps into one other messaging debacle

Overwatch 2 is not even a yr outdated, and its lifecycle is already type of difficult. This wrinkle to its co-op mode additional reveals how the sport is struggling to justify its personal existence. 

When the sport was first introduced at BlizzCon 2019, PvE was the first promoting level. For the reason that first Overwatch got here with no narrative mode, its inclusion right here felt like an actual shift to enchantment to each its aggressive participant base and people invested in its narrative, who had been beforehand sated with expanded media. 

Now dubbed “Story Missions,” Blizzard introduced the change in its PvE course again in Might. Beforehand, the studio’s ambitions would’ve concerned talent timber for every of the sport’s Heroes (that are nearing 40, at time of writing) and new enemy models. 

Story Missions are one of many massive highlights of Overwatch 2’s sixth season, which begins in August. However since Blizzard was quiet on PvE till a month in the past, the query of whether or not the mode can be gated off to gamers prepared to spend actual cash was by no means actually introduced up. 

At time of writing, it is unknown if future Story Missions shall be equally paywalled, or if it’s going to be doable to purchase Story Missions after they go away seasonal rotation.