The Overwatch 2 Halloween event is upon us, celebrating the spookiest time of the year with a creepy overlay and even a new game mode; a sequel to Junkenstein’s Revenge. This year’s Overwatch 2 Halloween event is different though, as the FPS game has gone free-to-play, and many players aren’t at all pleased with the new rollout of earnable skins and cosmetics.
In case you didn’t know, the Overwatch 2 Halloween event is running from October 25 to November 9, and it adds the co-op mission Junkenstein’s Revenge: Wrath of the Bride. You can earn name cards, weapon charms, battle pass XP, and more, but players are frustrated at Blizzard for removing one specific earnable reward: character skins.
That said, you can watch any streamer under the Overwatch 2 Twitch category for four hours and get the Werewolf Winston Legendary skin, but there are still no earnable in-game rewards pertaining to skins during the event.
It appears that this change has everything to do with the Overwatch 2 free-to-play model, as Blizzard also mentions that limited edition skin bundles will be available in the shop during the event. “We’re expanding on the story of Junkenstein’s Revenge through Wrath of the Bride and adding spooky new skins and bundles to the Overwatch Shop.”
This change has caused quite the furore from players, as a post outlining that there are no skin rewards in the Overwatch 2 Halloween event has gained almost 24,000 upvotes on Reddit in less than a day.
“Event skins were the only thing keeping me playing over the last couple years,” laments SnooDoodles8088. “I never missed a single one and it almost felt like an obligation to maintain my streak after a while.”
This change to event skins is emblematic of a larger Overwatch 2 problem for most players, this being that skins feel too expensive, and that Blizzard has completely changed how players can earn them, which is basically no longer through play itself.
“You get more skins for not playing the game,” adds The_Owl_Bard, which feels like an incredibly apt statement that highlights the overall state of the Overwatch 2 Halloween event, and the multiplayer game’s monetisation model.
At this point I think it’s fair to say that Blizzard won’t be changing its money making ways for Overwatch 2, as it aligns with the new free-to-play model that’s been adopted. That said, fans are still going to bring up their disappointment, and rightly so.
If you’re playing Overwatch 2 and need some quick help, we’ve got your back with a series of guides. We have an Overwatch 2 tier list of all the best heroes to pick for your role, alongside some Overwatch 2 best settings for your PC playing.
