Weeks after the troubled launch of Overwatch 2, fans are realizing how high the price of unlocking the game's cosmetics is compared to real-life merchandise. Blizzard's use of an in-game battle pass to supplant the previous game's lootbox system was one of its most controversial changes. Now that players have had some time to complete challenges and earn unlockables, it's beginning to dawn on them how expensive Overwatch 2, a free-to-play game, can be.

A piece of real-world Overwatch merchandise, a Pachimari keychain, costs less money to purchase than its in-game counterpart, the Pachimari weapon charm. A Reddit post from user hi_im_redbeard (via Kotaku) brought the price differences up to many fans who already believe Overwatch 2 is charging too much for its unlockable content. According to the post, the adorable Pachimari keychain is only $5 to purchase on Blizzard's merchandise page. In contrast, the Pachimari weapon charm that can be seen dangling from a playable hero's weapon in-game costs 700 Overwatch coins. Overwatch coins can be slowly earned or purchased, with 1000 coins costing $10 USD.

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There are indeed ways to play Overwatch 2 without spending money. However, loot boxes have been replaced with a battle pass, and Overwatch coins are more expensive and difficult to earn. This has made the new game a significant grind for anyone trying to unlock a lot of its content. As it stands, only sixty coins can be earned a week, and to do so, players must sink many hours into completing the game's weekly challenges. While the Pachimari weapon charm is adorable, it would take almost twelve weeks of completing weekly challenges to earn the 700 coins it costs to unlock the item.

Similar to other free shooters like Fortnite and Halo Infinite, Overwatch 2 has a battle pass that unlocks new content for players as they level up in multiplayer matches. Overwatch 2 charges $10 USD for each season's battle pass. Players unlock content for all of the game's playable characters, even the ones they don't usually play as. The first OW would gift players a loot box every time they leveled up, which also could have been bought with real currency. While those boxes would give seemingly random loot, they also provided caches of Overwatch coins and reward coins for duplicate items that players had already unlocked.

Cosmetics and other unlockable items like the Pachimari weapon charm cost too much, especially compared to other F2P shooters. New players would need to spend more than $12,000 to unlock the cosmetics of Overwatch 1 for the free-to-play sequel. Team 4 at Blizzard has a much larger group of developers to support than in the first game. Still, hopefully, the developers and players can compromise somewhere in the middle regarding what to charge for Overwatch 2 cosmetics.

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Source: hi_im_redbeard/Reddit (via Kotaku)

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