The Overwatch 2 trailer from the Xbox Games Showcase teased the upcoming story missions that are dropping on August 10. However, it left out a pretty big detail and didn’t note that these cooperative missions will cost extra.
The Overwatch 2 Invasion missions will cost money
Blizzard Entertainment went into more detail about these missions in a post after the show. There will be two bundles that will unlock the first three Invasion missions. The $15 version will include permanent access to these three Invasion missions, 1,000 Overwatch Coins (around $10), and a Legendary skin for Sojourn (valued at $19). Those who don’t own Sojourn will also get access to her upon competing story mission challenges. The $40 bundle also comes with the same perks, as well as 2,000 total Overwatch Coins, 20 battle pass skips, and a Legendary skin for both Cassidy and Kiriko.
Some players did not take kindly to the news, which is evidenced in the trailer’s like and dislike ratio. It currently has around 28,000 likes and 32,000 dislikes on the official Overwatch channel. The numbers are smaller elsewhere on the official PlayStation, Xbox, and European Overwatch channels, but the ratio is even more severe and more heavily skewed towards dislikes.
This comes less than a month after Blizzard canceled the RPG-like Hero Mode it announced in 2019. That mode was one of the key bullet points for Overwatch 2, but Blizzard noted that it ended up being quite difficult to make a mode that would resonate with players. The decision was made to axe it in order to feed the live game.
Invasion will let players tackle three missions across three “massive maps” with “complex objectives” and an “in-depth storyline.” It’ll also include new enemies that haven’t been in Overwatch yet. Game Informer noted that this first drop will have eight cinematics and the first mission, excluding cutscenes, took about 31 minutes to complete.
These sit alongside a new bonus co-op mission that takes place in a new area in King’s Row where players guide an armed version of the robot from the Push game mode across the map. Flashpoint will also be a new competitive game type available to everyone where teams fight for control on certain areas of the map. Hero Mastery missions are solo affairs where players can go through courses specifically designed for each character. Not every hero will have one from the jump, but the rest will roll out in future seasons. The practice range is even getting an update and will include a new firing range.
The gameplay reveal for Invasion will start on June 21, but Blizzard will show more later in the summer, too.
