On October 25 through November 8, Overwatch 2 celebrates its first seasonal event since its debut earlier this month: The 2022 edition of its yearly weeks-long Halloween Terror extravaganza. Like past years, Halloween Terror will honor the holiday with new skins and a Junkenstein’s Revenge themed co-op competition. The mode may sound familiar, but this time around, Blizzard has extended the map with more checkpoints and fun bosses. People are having a good time with that aspect, but part of the incentive to play used to be unlocks. And what’s become frightening about this year’s Overwatch’s Halloween offerings is that all these formerly free enticements are now trapped behind a pricey battle pass.
In terms of limited edition cosmetics, which in previous years were unlocked by completing competitions, Blizzard currently lists 10, bizarrely, “discounted” but paid-for bundles and skins at around $20 or 2,000 Overwatch Coins each, including a Bride of Frankenstein skin for Sombra, and heavy metal executioner skin for Junker Queen. This year’s event rewards are limited to sprays and voice lines—there are no reward skins at all.
Blizzard never said this would be otherwise, necessarily. Before Overwatch 2 rolled out in September, the developer wrote clearly on its blog that each installment of its nine-weeks-long seasonal model would be tied directly to “a new Battle Pass, every one with a unique theme and up to 80+ unlockable tiers of cosmetics.”
But it feels different to read something and to see it happen in practice, like being told that your rent will increase and then receiving an invoice and understanding, oh, your rent has increased.
The prices are also confusing. Fans looking to buy healer Kiriko’s witchy legendary skin were disappointed, first, by the fact that Blizzard listed the skin as $26 or 2,600 Overwatch Coins, and second, that there is no way to buy just 600 Coins. So, to get closest to 2,600, you’ll have to spend $30 on 3,000 Coins. And, again, despite the Halloween skins only launching yesterday, the witch skin is also already listed at a 29% discount, down from 3,700 Coins it was never actually at.
“Blizzard did great with the Halloween event this year,” the top YouTube comment on Overwatch 2’s Halloween trailer says, “the prices of the skins are going to be absolutely terrifying.”
“Halloween terror in overwatch this year has to be the biggest scam blizzard ever made hahahah,” League of Legends pro Oskar “Selfmade” Boderek wrote on Twitter.
“This is the downfall of corporate America,” one impassioned, popular comment read in an Overwatch Reddit thread discussing the lack of free skins. All roads lead to Overwatch.