Blizzard's Overwatch may not be free, but everything else after it launches will be.
Announced earlier at BlizzCon (Blizzard Entertainment's annual video game convention), the company revealed that its first-person shooter would in fact not be free-to-play.
Much to players dislike, the gaming community was rightfully concerned especially since they were also lead to believe that any future DLC for Overwatch would cost them even more money. Moreover, players with enough cash would certainly have an unfair advantage within the Overwatch community by having access to more heroes and maps.
Fortunately, Blizzard has kept an open ear to gamer's concerns.
"We have ideas for additional maps and heroes that we'd like to add to the game. We thought about this and we decided the best way to add them to the game is to patch them in as free content and not as [paid] DLC. So hopefully that alleviates some concerns that people have," Blizzard game director, Jeff Kaplan, revealed in a developer update video on YouTube.
At its expected launch next year, Overwatch will have a total of 21 heroes ready for battle. As for when new heroes and new maps will launch, not even Kaplan knows. He reveals that Blizzard doesn't have a set timetable for when the game's latest batch of heroes and maps will be released. In fact, Blizzard isn't yet certain how many of each will indeed come to the game after its launch.
Kaplan does share, however, that if beta players of Overwatch looked closely enough, they may have seen hints of new heroes and maps through easter eggs hidden in the game. The important takeaway here is that any future updates for Overwatch is thankfully going to be free.
The basic version of the game will be sold for $40 while a special Origins Edition will cost gamers $60 for an additional five hero skins and other digital treats for Blizzard's other titles. PC gamers will have first dibs at the game though while console gamers will have to wait a little while longer to get their trigger fingers ready on the Xbox One and PS4.
