Recently, Blizzard confirmed that Overwatch loot boxes will be phased out in anticipation of a new Battle Pass system and before Overwatch 2 launches. If you had blinked around the time that the announcement was issued, you would, in all likelihood, have missed it entirely.
The announcement was issued quietly in a blog post that concerned Overwatch’s Anniversary Remix Volume 3 Event. In the post, Blizzard announced that the loot boxes we’ve come to know and somewhat love will no longer be available after the 30th of August. That doesn’t give players much time to make the most of the loot boxes they love.
However, you shouldn’t feel the need to collectively rush out and claim loot boxes left, right, and center. Blizzard says that even though loot boxes are being phased out, you’ll still be able to earn standard loot boxes once the Remix event has concluded.
That said, the upcoming Overwatch Anniversary Remix Volume 3 Event is Blizzard’s chosen broom when it comes to cleaning house. This is in preparation for the launch of Overwatch 2 on the 4th of October 2022. You could see this as a sort of grace period, during which you can still purchase or earn cosmetics before the new game’s launch. Available during this grace period will be all the skins and cosmetics that have been featured in previous Overwatch Challenge events.
Blizzard’s reasoning for removing loot boxes is simple. In the company’s own words, it wanted to furnish players with ‘a lot more control over how they interact with the game and acquire new content.’ Say what you want about loot boxes, these little power-ups have been a massively contentious subject throughout the history of the modern gaming industry.
Even though most loot box features are relatively innocuous and don’t seek to do any harm to the game or the player, some loot box systems have been linked to illegal gambling. Loot boxes also sometimes give pay-to-win players an advantage over other players, and take the fun, competitive spirit out of the game in favor of pure capitalism.
Overwatch isn’t the only game that recently decided to ditch loot boxes for a more competitive system. In fact, Overwatch may just be following the lead of Diablo Immortal whose creators also recently announced the end of support for in-game loot boxes.
