Overwatch 2 dev slammed for “tone-deaf” response to Winter Fair controversy
BlizzardOverwatch 2 players have discovered that it isn’t possible to complete the Winter Fair event despite having to pay for the event pass. A developer’s response to players’ gripes about the Winter Fair didn’t do much to calm those concerns.
The Winter Fair event is coming to Overwatch 2 soon, bringing with it an event that’ll allow players to earn tickets that can be put toward getting a number of skins from a store. However, players soon noticed a few things about the event.
One, the free path’s tickets would never allow a player to get their hands on the event’s legendary skins. Seeing as they’re 160 tickets and there are only 120 on the free path, players won’t be able to get any big-ticket items no matter how hard they grind.
Two, the event’s paid premium pass doesn’t give players enough to get all the skins in the event. The skins are priced in a way that, if a player wants both the Reinhardt and Widowmaker skins, they’d only have enough for one additional skin in the event. At most, players get 4 out of 5. And that’s only if they complete every week’s challenges in the event pass.
As a result of Blizzard’s implementation of this event and its pass, Overwatch 2 players weren’t happy with the team. And one dev’s response only stoked the fires.
Overwatch 2 dev blasted for saying paid event is “in the holiday spirit”
Though Overwatch 2’s shift in focus to purely multiplayer content has worked out in Blizzard’s favor, players have had their fair share of gripes with the game’s monetization. While selling skins and other cosmetics is a necessary part of keeping a free-to-play title alive, keeping players satisfied with what they’re paying for while making a profit is a delicate balance.
Players felt as if that balance was thrown off by the Winter Fair event’s model that makes players unable to earn everything even with a paid pass. Overwatch 2’s executive producer Jared Neuss disagreed.
Jared outright confirms players won’t be able to unlock everything, citing the desire to give players a, “choice in the rewards they got from this event,” rather than just giving them everything outright.
Going by players’ response to Neuss’ sentiment, this clearly isn’t what they want.
“I think it’s not stated enough with battle passes is you are not paying $5 for 4 skins here. You are paying that much for the privilege to grind the game for up to that many for a limited time before you can’t do it any more.” one player responded.
For many, it felt as if Jared’s response left out the amount of time that they’d have to dedicate to playing the game into the idea of paying 5 bucks to get 4 Legendary skins. Especially during the time of year in which many choose to spend time with their families and loved ones.
Others claimed there shouldn’t be FOMO at all when it comes to a paid event. “There shouldn’t be any f*cking FOMO. ESPECIALLY for people that put that extra cash in YOUR pockets. Holy sh*t. Even though Reddit is probably less than 5% of the player base, we should absolutely refuse to take part in this event based solely on this response.”
And that’s without mentioning that the Widowmaker and Reinhardt skins, the event’s crown jewels, aren’t even unique skins. Kerrigan Widowmaker existed prior and the christmas present-themed Reinhardt skin is a recolor of his cardboard skin that was released a few months prior.
It remains to be seen whether or not Overwatch 2’s devs decide to change the way the Winter Fair works before launch.
