Overwatch 2 players have to pay to keep access to story missions

I think it’s fair to say that a lot of Overwatch 2 players are currently questioning what on Earth shutting down the first game and forcing everyone to move to the sequel was good for, as yet another controversial decision has been revealed by Blizzard.

Before Overwatch 2 released, two of the main selling points were the future PvE Story and Hero Missions. Despite having some really cool characters, Overwatch never really expanded on any of them in the actual game, and so the idea of having more story-focused content in the sequel was really exciting. Recently though, it was confirmed that Blizzard has decided to scrap the highly-anticipated Hero Mode, much to the disappointment of fans.

Take a look at the gameplay trailer for Overwatch 2 below.

But at least we can all still look forward to the story missions, right? Well, yeah, but there’s a huge catch. As Game Rant reports, in a new blog post, Blizzard has revealed new details about Overwatch 2: Invasion, which will release on 10 August and contain “three action-packed missions”, with “massive maps with complex objectives, and an in-depth storyline that will guide you along the way”. Sounds pretty great, right? Unfortunately, one line of text has got everyone rather concerned about how access to this content will work.

Blizzard revealed that players can buy either the $15 Overwatch 2: Invasion Bundle or the $40 Ultimate Invasion Bundle in order to get “permanent access to the Overwatch 2: Invasion Story Missions” (as well as some legendary skins and in-game currency). Oddly, no further details have been given explaining what happens if players don’t buy these bundles - it’s not clear if there’s a way to play the missions for free or if they’re totally paywalled. Either way, it doesn’t seem that free-to-play players will be able to hang onto the missions forever.

What’s also troubling about this situation is that it strongly implies players will have to pay for future story missions, so things could get really expensive, really fast. We’ll have to wait for a bit more clarity from Blizzard to see if things are as bad as they seem.