RIP Overwatch on MMOBomb -- For Now

Jason Winter
By Jason Winter, News Editor Posted:
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Apart from maybe the occasional mention on the F2P cast, it seems we won't be talking much more about Overwatch on this site -- for a while, at least.

At BlizzCon, Blizzard confirmed the business model for Overwatch would most definitely not be free-to-play. You can pre-purchase the game now, either in a base variety for PC at $39.99, the Origins Edition for $59.99, or the Collector's Edition, which comes with a Soldier: 76 statue, available from Best Buy, Amazon, or Gamestop for $129.99.

It's a curious move, given Blizzard's recent successful foray into free-to-play with Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm. There are also a lot of titles with similar gameplay coming out soon that will be free-to-play, like Gigantic, LawBreakers, Paladins, and more. Granted, this is Blizzard, and the marketing push has been extreme, so it's not like Overwatch will have trouble getting an audience, but one of those other games could find a hole to exploit that lets it grab a significant portion of the market share.

If we had to guess, we'd think that the game will be B2P now, with a F2P switch coming in a year or two, after sales have slowed down. Business-wise, it's not a terrible idea, getting early cash now and then cashing in on a wider population later, and it still might beat those other games to market. Still, it's a little sad to think that we won't be able to cover Overwatch here any more or play it when it comes out without ponying up the cash. It seemed perfectly suited for free-to-play, but apparently Blizzard doesn't agree.

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In this article: Blizzard, Overwatch.

About the Author

Jason Winter
Jason Winter, News Editor

Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

More Stories by Jason Winter

Discussion (48)

Eviil 8 years ago
Why people getting upset over a ps2 converting to a purchasable download /disc. Must be not that old to remember the old gen games that we loved to blow on or slap them on a disc repair machine. Don't have the funds for it? student? go get that money over the weekend and buy it. I remember when I was young i used to ask people for work and when they ask me why, i told them because i wanted a game or toy. Learned a lot at 9 years of age LOL

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gert4 8 years ago
Pass not paying $60 for a game where other games are being released that are f2p and prob going to be better

SqueezyTime 8 years ago
Man.... there are a lot of angry people in this comment section, and all of their reasons are ridiculous. Srsly, who cares @ everyone. People play games; kids are people; broke people are people; we're all people; we all play games. Games cost money; if you like the game, buy it; if you don't, don't; if you can't afford it, save up (I mean, its $40 ffs, go mow a lawn or watch someone's dog or something)... It's really that simple, guys. Personally, I think Overwatch is pretty great. It is VERY different from Team Fortress 2, and the class design and map design both encourage team play in a way that feels more natural, and much less forced. Everyone will have fun (except those people who hate children and nationalities other than their own... they probably don't know what fun is). :)

Blizzardwelldone 8 years ago
Thx God BLIZZARD... best thing i have heard today... No kids!! No poor people from 3th world countrys laging around cause of there shity inet con. Plz Blizzard make it pay per month like 30 or 40 Bucks so we can play without Kids and poor jobless scum.... Thumps Up for PLZ!!!

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superninja 8 years ago
Anyway the less free to play thing in the world will always be your GC

adriano515 8 years ago
Wait, Gigcantic being a moba and overwatch a shooter arena (or fps or whatever the genre is) is it similar gameplay? its not even the same category

Mern 8 years ago
I'm glad the free to play crowd stays out of it.

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SethSamson 8 years ago
)&(*&%%#%@$%%^ fckers they say it will be a f2p they set your HYPE and then they do this M(*&@($&_)(&*_(&_@&$_+@ and this is not the first game to do this kinda BS move .... remember "Homeworld Shipbreakers"
AND how this is will be a competitive versus TF 2 ... the answer is - it won't ... cause TF2 is F2P a it will still RULE over the Overwatch

Jafarson 8 years ago
liar c o c k s u c k e r BLIZZARD!!!!!!!!!!!!! they confirmed.... Overwatch will be P2P.............f u c k i n PIG company!!!!!!!!!

Beau 8 years ago
Thank god it's buy to play! The moment team fortress 2 when free to play, I could not stand the kids and the lack of team play.

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Bone 8 years ago
I could pay the money for it if I wanted no problem, but I can't see what makes the game worth it, I would have played it/tired it if it had been free2play but there are so many of these games that I don't feel like paying for it unless I REALLY like it... and honostly, the game does nothing for me. might as well play TF2...

Archives 8 years ago
Well, considering the price for it, i'd say all the characters will be unlocked. Will definitely buy this once it's out and have a blast with it. And to all the butthurt people, stay poor and salty my friends. :^)

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rickshaw 8 years ago
ITS way Over watched! Over rated! Over priced! its just team fortress in cosplay.

DopeBoi 8 years ago
how do you know that its gonna go free to play do u have a time machine can u read the future r u jesus? no so dont talk about the game going free to play it wont likely go free to play for example WoW has gone down in sales lately is it free to play? some aspects of it but it is still indeed a sub game so dude get ur review right

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BurDemBOddies 8 years ago
To be honest wasn't even looking forward to this game at all and I don't even play any of their games at all now. I used to play hearthstone but even that is nothing but a sink hole for people with money just laying around on their floors to dump in to the best cards.

Another thing thats pressing is this fake free to play garbage that every company is doing to get high premiums which will boil well over what they even put into the game because rich people seem to not care about what they spend on (or their kids anyway). So what they do is trick people into buying a game as "free to play" so that they can feel like the elite few who got to play the game... This has been happening for a while now and I don't see it stopping any time soon.

Oh ya to the people who state they need the money to develop the game more I can tell you right now you know nothing about it at all. When you get in to a gaming business you either get support from a major company to start out or you flop its that simple this crap about needing founder packs to support the game is a complete lie. IN most cases they use founder packs as a means to see how much people are willing to spend on their game and adjust accordingly. Take dragomon hunter as a prime example for this tactic that "failed".

will 8 years ago
And every BlizzTard fanboi will gobble it up. So why wouldn't they charge for it.
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Charge a premium, then switch to F2P milking.

karnaij 8 years ago
the game is nt generic yea its kinda like tf2 but its also completely different

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Curst 8 years ago
Pffft. Whatever. It's just another overhyped generic game. -_-

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