Overwatch is available now, and gamers everywhere are beginning to dive into the multi-player arena of Blizzard's first shooter for the first time.
One key part of the Overwatch experience is unlocking new cosmetic items in the form of skins, emotes and sprays with loot boxes. These digital prize packages are rewarded to players upon ranking up as a reward.
Players can also, however, buy loot boxes with real money. While Blizzard had previously announced this fact, it hadn't revealed any pricing details on how much loot boxes would cost in the real world. The feature was absent in the beta, as beta progress didn't carry over to the full release of the game.
Now that the game is officially out, its microtransactions finally have a price tag attached. Two loot boxes will set players back $2, while five loot boxes costs $5. The more you buy at a time, however, the cheaper they are. A pack of 11 loot boxes is $10, a pack of 24 is $20 and a pack of 50 is $40.
The prices aren't unreasonable, by any means. That being said, more than a few players might feel tempted to throw down some additional cash for the boxes as time goes on. While the loot boxes come frequently in the first couple of hours of play, it begins to take longer and longer as players reach higher ranks. Fans at high ranks might not want to wait for their next box and instead simply buy it outright with real money.
The flip-side to the game's microtransactions is that Blizzard says new content in the form of maps and characters will be coming free of charge. As the game won't feature any kind of paid DLC or season pass (at least for now), these microtransactions serve as a way to make up the difference, while still allowing Blizzard to continually add to the game.
What do you think about Overwatch's microtransactions? Are they a good deal, a necessary evil or would you rather do without them entirely? Let us know in the comments below.
