Billed as a way to “deliver more content to the game, more regularly, all while helping more players than ever before experience the Overwatch universe,” Overwatch 2’s pivot to a battle pass model marks a big change for the series. While the original Overwatch provided players with free updates so long as they owned the game, and gave players the option to purchase Loot Boxes when longing for cosmetic changes, Overwatch 2 is adopting a free-to-play model and doing away with the chance-based reward system. While these changes are exciting–and after reviewing them, I believe they will genuinely benefit players–they do raise a lot of questions. Fortunately, Blizzard has now shed some light on what this all means.
A seasonal model
Starting with the release of Overwatch 2 on October 4, the game will enter a seasonal model that will deliver a unique theme and over 80 tiers of new content to the game every nine weeks. This new content can then be attained by the player through a battle pass.
With this seasonal model, you can count on major patches and updates rolling out every nine weeks. Additionally, a new hero or map will arrive every nine weeks on a rotating basis.