Overwatch has been officially released for over two months now, and to celebrate the Olympics, Blizzard has arranged for an event inspired by the games. Featuring unique items to unlock based around the Olympics, the Summer Games event is the first of, hopefully, many seasonal events for the wildly popular game.
Boasting over 100 new cosmetic items, players are able to receive new skins for some of their favourite heroes, as well as a new voice line and spray for all of them. A few heroes have also received some new emotes, victory poses and highlight intros. To top things off, there are new player icons to fit the theme. Along with the plethora of items that have been included, a new brawl has begun for the duration of the event: Lúcioball. This mode has two teams of three play as the hero Lúcio in a game reminiscent of soccer, but with a much faster pace.
Though most are impressed with how much Blizzard has added to the game for an event that only lasts twenty days, many are also annoyed at the fact that the event lasts for such a short amount of time. There has been some backlash from fans who feel slighted that they aren’t allowed to purchase any of the Summer Games items using the in-game currency that they have collected. With the only method of obtaining the Summer Games items being either through levelling up or purchasing the boxes directly, people are worried that they won’t be able to unlock their favourite item, with most completely forgoing the possibility of collecting all of them. Some are likening Blizzard’s business model to something more in line with a free-to-play game, yet it costs $70AUD just pay for your place in this madness.
It is a shame that I, personally, have already abandoned all hope of collecting the items I want only one day into the campaign, but I honestly am enjoying what Blizzard has put up for grabs. Ideally, the company will agree with the players that it’s a little unfair to put so much limited content behind an RNG paywall that they, at least, make the items for their future events purchasable with the in-game currency, which can only be received from loot boxes anyway. Otherwise I honestly don’t know what to do with all of the coins that I’ve been saving up.
If you’re interested in seeing the items that are available throughout the event, check out this Reddit Post which showcases the majority of loot. Also, if you’re looking for a more exciting overview of what’s in store for the Summer Games, then give the video below a look.
