That message – making clear that Overwatch 2 is going to do away with the broadly disliked loot crate business model – is just one part of a broader messaging campaign that Blizzard is having to carefully construct around the new game. More importantly, though, shutting down the loot box monetisation well ahead of the launch of the sequel is a very good piece of marketing that sends a clear message to the existing playerbase of Overwatch, many of whom have been vocally critical of the loot boxes from the outset. Shutting down the loot box monetisation well ahead of the launch is a good piece of marketing that sends a clear message to the existing playerbase Why, then, is Blizzard shutting down its monetisation of loot boxes more than a month early? Well, while it’s true that the items from those boxes will continue to be usable past the launch of Overwatch 2, the new game won’t have a paid-for loot box system, with such random boxes of items only being earned through gameplay, so you could certainly make an argument that players who pay for items that become available through regular play only days later might feel a bit ripped off. In the case of Overwatch, though, loot box items will actually continue to be usable in Overwatch 2, so this logic doesn’t really apply. The reasoning for that is clear: selling virtual items for a game that won’t exist in a few months is just asking for a consumer backlash and some serious side-eye from consumer watchdogs and regulators. This isn’t an unprecedented move the original Overwatch will be fully replaced by its sequel, rather than running alongside it, and it’s fairly common for developers to phase out various monetisation aspects of their live service games some time before the game itself shuts down.
At the end of this month, Blizzard will shut down sales of loot boxes for Overwatch – a stepping stone towards the launch of Overwatch 2, and consequent overhaul of the whole business model for the Overwatch franchise, in early October.
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