Overwatch 2 battle pass details are finally here, as loot boxes are ditched in favor of a rotating strip of rewards players can earn through a much more streamlined progression system.
Overwatch 2 battle passes are being treated as seasonal content. After nine weeks, the current battle pass will be phased out for a new one. When it launches in early access on October 4 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, the free-to-play game will enter Season 1 and have a battle pass ready to go on day one.
The Overwatch 2 battle pass isn't all that dissimilar to other popular free-to-play games' implementation of the reward structure. Like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone, the battle pass has both free and premium tracks. The latter of which you'll need to pay real money to access.
At a glance, the battle pass features rewards that would otherwise have been a part of the first Overwatch's loot box system, with new cosmetic additions like gun charms too. Such rewards include character skins (with over 30 new ones coming with season 1), weapon charms, and voice lines.
Currently, though, there's no word as to whether previous seasons' battle passes will return at a later date. Loot boxes, however, have been scrapped for good. As such, there could be an element of FOMO at play if you didn't manage to fully complete a battle pass from any given season.
A bumper start for Overwatch 2?
By the looks of it, Overwatch 2 could have quite a feature-rich start when it launches in October. Three new heroes are joining the complete roster from the first game. These new Overwatch 2 characters are Sojourn, Junker Queen alongside a third mystery support hero.
Joining them are six new maps, an all-new mode and the aforementioned battle pass content. And while we've yet to receive pricing information for Overwatch 2's premium content, we like to imagine that the overall cost will be lower.
That's due to the battle passes being a one-time purchase every nine weeks. As a result, players will need to play to progress and earn the rewards as they go, as opposed to potentially risking hard-earned cash on duplicates with the first game's loot box system.
And there's also been a revelation about how Overwatch 2 PvE will work and it may surprise you!
