ionscifi's picture
Sequel or Not?
Posted By:

We've posed the question - when is sci-fi not sci-fi - in relation to HBO's series Station 11. Today we have to ask, when is a sequel not a sequel?

Because the curious relationship between Overwatch and Overwatch 2 may have just changed.

Overwatch is a buy-to-play competitive team first-person shooter.

Overwatch 2 was to be a free-to-play sequel with solo-able PvE (player versus environment) story and repeatable content, alongside the competitive team modes of the original.

Blizzard had promised that players of both games would be able to compete against each other in those competitive modes.

In a recent Reddit AMA (ask me anything) the game director was asked this question:

What does the term "Early Access" means for Overwatch 2? Does this means that on this day OW1 is getting replaced by OW2's PvP or will OW1 shutdown once the game is out of Early Access?

and responded with:

We’re using the term Early Access to indicate that this is just the start of many new things coming to the game. We’re launching with new heroes, maps and features, but there are even more of these coming seasonally – every 9 weeks. We recently released a roadmap detailing some of this content, with a new hero coming in Seasons 1 and 2, and a new map in Season 2. Additionally, larger pieces of the game that have always been a part of the vision for OW2 will be released to the game as part of the live service, including the launch of the PvE Campaign next year.

When OW2 launches on Oct 4th it will be a replacement for the current Live Service.

Putting aside Blizzard's misuse of the early access label, IGN have interpreted this as:

In other words, the original Overwatch will no longer be playable once the new game releases. Instead, players who try to play Overwatch will be prompted to update to Overwatch 2. Blizzard is pursuing this model in order to retain a unified playerbase.

And that's being widely repeated across gaming media.

We couldn't find any additional developer responses within that AMA thread.

It seems like IGN made that interpretation based on the response we quoted.

If correct it would be scandalous.

Why?

Business Model

Monetization of games absolutely impacts on enjoyment thereof and factors into the decision of if and how to spend money on it.

Overwatch is buy-to-play so gamers pay an amount to buy and own the game forever.

It also has a cash shop to milk players for extra money but having purchased the game there is an expectation that those microtransactions won't be intrusive.

"Sequel" Overwatch 2 will be a free-to-play game with some new features on top of what the original offered and also a much more intrusive cash shop.

Cash shops can generate enormous revenue and several free-to-play titles have done extremely well with that model, eg. League of Legends, Fortnite, and Blizzard's own recently released and very controversial Diablo Immortal.

The online game industry is littered with financial failures.

Blizzard's runaway success buy-to-play plus monthly subscription MMORPG (massively online roleplaying game) World of Warcraft inspired many would be competitors.

A common outcome was the developer giving up, selling off the game or their company being purchased outright, and another company attempting to monetize it.

In that scenario many online games transitioned from a buy-to-play plus subscription model to free-to-play with a substantial cash shop.

Were players happy about that?

Typically not but the only alternative was the game shutting down entirely, with Final Fantasy XIV being the exception which instead went back into development and later successfully relaunched as a better game.

Blizzard are in no danger of going bankrupt and could easily afford to keep the original Overwatch running as promised.

If instead Overwatch 2 is effectively a fake sequel to change the business model, then could players be in a position to legitimately demand refunds?

Even if the answer is no many Overwatch players might still legitimately feel robbed.

Though not interested in this game ourselves, we are curious to see how this aspect plays out.

[ Main Image: Overwatch. Credit: Blizzard via IMDb.com. ]

References

Leston, Ryan (June 24, 2022). Overwatch 2 Will Replace the Original Game at Launch. IGN.

Wikipedia. Overwatch. (viewed June 25, 2022)

Wilken, Shawn (June 20, 2022) Diablo Immortal Has Reportedly Earned Over $24 Million for Blizzard. Game Rant.