Since its inception three years ago, Overwatch has gone on to become one of the most popular games in the world. Blizzards first IP in decades, the game has managed to become a cultural phenomenon. Being an active part of major Esports events, the game has slowly infused itself into the pop culture of gaming. While most games have rigid content and die out over time, Blizzard has managed to keep up the hype with its live events. One of the most popular events by the company has been the anniversary event in 2018. Blizzard is following suit with the event this year.
Beginning on 21st May, the event features a plethora of new content. There is a major wave of new skins, dance emotes and other collectables for players to collect. Most of the content can be earned by gaming aside from the easy purchase route. For players that love to play with Ashe, Baptiste or Wrecking Ball, new dance emotes are up for grabs as well. The player base of the company has warmly received this news. There is widespread excitement on social media channels by avid fans that are excited to find content related to their favourite characters. Twitter was raving about the event as shown by the fan tweets.
Blizzard offered a chance to anyone not playing the game to join the event without having to purchase the game initially. The first week featured free trial which allowed new players to join right into the action. There is widespread speculation currently by Industry insiders of Overwatch transitioning to a F2P (Free-To-Play) Gaming model. However, the proceeded at the anniversary event still came as a surprise to most.
Our experience of the game proved certain skins to be way better than the others. Doomfist, Widowmaker and Sombra felt overhyped. Winston seemed to be the highlight of the event with a massive transformation into a fierce character. Riot Police Bridgette also improved massively with added siren into the skin. Mei & Pharah were visually appealing as well.
One of the highlights of the event is the ability to catch up to skins missed in the past. The chances to get loot boxes from playing instead of just purely buying was a great addition. Even though we could not resist buying some loot boxes which bore great results, the general content for users that do not want to break the bank is great as well.
Overwatch has managed to achieve remarkable success in a few years. At the forefront of this success are its actively content addition and creativity. From winning the Game of the Year award in 2016 to having more than 40 million active users, The game has managed to reach new heights. The Anniversary Event 2019 followed suit from last year and engaged the community to produce a truly engaging event for a week. With such active participation and creativity, the addition of a free to play model will truly help the company gain rapid momentum again.
The Anxious Gamer 