Want to enjoy Overwatch 2’s story missions? It’s going to cost you $15 at least.
Blizzard has announced that the first batch of three Overwatch 2 story missions, dubbed Invasion, will be arriving this August. These co-op multiplayer missions will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, and Gothenburg with, according to the developer, “..massive maps with complex objectives, and an in-depth storyline that will guide you along the way.”
A lot of people aren’t happy about this move, however, and they may well have a good reason. Originally, Overwatch 2 was going to feature a complete player vs enemy mode, which was one of the reasons for switching game engine.
But in May, Blizzard stated this mode wasn’t going to happen and instead, they’d fold the content into the multiplayer game. Did Blizzard confirm that PvE mode would be a free addition to the game? No, which is where things get a little muddy. Some players expected it to be free while others were bracing themselves to pay.
But the pricing does seem off, costing $15 for three missions, not even a full PvE mode. Yes, $15 gets you a handful of other items but that’s still a lot for what may only be a chunk of the story. Blizzard does say, “You can get started on your mission to save the world,” suggesting there’s more to come.
Blizzard has stated the $15 is for permanent access, so it’s not impossible that some of the missions won’t, temporarily, be playable by everyone. Maybe they’ll crop up on rotation as part of later seasons (Invasion is part of Season 6).
But’s still not a great look for the company. Cancelling the PvE mode ruffled some feathers and making these missions permanently free would have helped smooth things over. Blizzard could still have charged for additional story, with Invasion serving as a taster.
We anticipated that cancelling PvE mode would lose the game some players, along with a chunk of goodwill. But we though the game would be fine. Now? We’re less sure and we’ll be watching carefully to see how this impacts Overwatch 2’s future.
The content (along with a few other extras detailed here) will launch this August 10th, across PlayStation, PC and Xbox.
