You can buy an official Blizzard Overwatch 2 charm in real life for less than it costs for its in-game equivalent, causing players to further query the pricing of the free game’s microtransaction model. The removal of loot boxes from the first game in the switch to an Overwatch 2 battle pass model with paid cosmetic items has led many fans of the Blizzard FPS game to take issue with the high price of Overwatch 2 skins.
A post on the Overwatch Reddit highlights the discrepancy between the two prices. The Overwatch Pachimari Jinx 3D Keychain is available on the Blizzard US gear shop for $5 USD, along with several other 3D options at the same price point including Mei’s companion Snowball, Reaper’s mask, and Bastion’s bird pal Ganymede. For comparison, the equivalent Pachimari charm in-game costs 700 Overwatch Coins, with 1000 coins retailing for $9.99 USD.
This would price the in-game charm at roughly $7 – two bucks more than its actual, real-world equivalent that you can hold in your actual hands, or use to keep your keys company. It even comes with more pleasingly bouncy physics than the rather stiff chains on the in-game models. Were you to opt for Overwatch’s most pricey coin bundle, netting you 11,600 coins for $99.99 USD, you’d still be paying just over $6 for your in-game charm.
Things don’t quite work out as dramatically for those of us in the UK, where the real-life keychain charms retail at £8 GBP compared to about £5.87 worth of in-game coins. Nevertheless, it’s still worth bearing in mind that we’re talking about an actual, tangible item with manufacturing costs that you can use in real life, as opposed to a small (but admittedly cute) in-game art asset.
Ultimately, this comparison has simply provided another drop of fuel on the fire that is the Overwatch 2 monetisation discussion. Comments in the Reddit thread seem to be largely of one mind – warning, “Careful, they might update the merch store prices if they find out.” Some users note that quite a few items in the Blizzard gear shop have gone up in price in the past few years, and that $5 for a piece of officially licensed merch is actually a pretty good deal.
Many fans in the thread recognise that making an in-game item isn’t ‘free’ either – the model has to be designed and made by artists on the development team – but note that once it exists, there’s no additional overhead to serving it up to each player. Ultimately, only time will tell how Overwatch 2’s financial model plays out and whether Blizzard decides to make any changes to in-game pricing in the future.
In the meantime, our Overwatch 2 tier list should help you rise the ranks of Overwatch 2 competitive play. We’ve also got a guide to changing your Overwatch 2 crosshair for the best aiming options, and taken a look at how your Overwatch 2 sound settings can make a demonstrable difference to your success. The Overwatch 2 Halloween event is currently ongoing, as is an Overwatch 2 double XP weekend running October 28-31, making it a great time to jump in and play even if you don’t fancy buying anything.