Overwatch 2 Halloween Event Skins Are Ridiculously Expensive

Overwatch 2 was recently released on October 4. The game’s release was a massive success that saw many new players jump into the game, as well as many players from the old Overwatch. Overwatch 2 hit 25 million players in just 10 days after release.

Less than a month after its release, Overwatch 2 introduced its first seasonal event in the shape of “Halloween Terror” on October 25. The event includes a co-op mode called Junkenstien’s Revenge: Wrath of the Bride. The event is just like the old Overwatch Halloween event but with some notable changes.

The Halloween event is set to last from October 25 to November 8. Players will be able to receive several rewards by playing the event mode in the game during the event duration.

Now, the rewards are what we’re talking about here. The Overwatch 2 Halloween Terror 2022 offers new paid Legendary skins for Kiriko and Junker Queen. You can also buy the “Defenders of the Castle” bundle that includes Legendary skins for Bastion, Winston, Sigma, and Symmetra from the old Overwatch.

All of these new skins, even the old Halloween-themed skins from Overwatch 1 that were made available with the event, are extremely expensive.

Kiriko’s Legendary Witch skin bundle costs 2600 Coins, which is about $26. There’s also the fact that Kiriko’s Witch skin was put up in the store with a 29% discount, which sets the skin’s price at 3700 Coins without the discount. It’s also worth mentioning that, as of now, you can’t purchase a pack of 600 coins. So, you’ll have to buy 3000 Coins if you wish to purchase the Kiriko Witch skin bundle.

Other than that, the Junker Queen’s Legendary Executioner skin bundle costs 1900 Coins. The bundle includes several other cosmetics alongside the Legendary skin. But even that doesn’t make it nearly worth that much money.

The “Defenders of the Castle” and “Dr. Junkenstien” bundles cost 4400 Coins at 42% off and 2800 Coins at 33% off, respectively.

The players that already owned these skins in Overwatch 1 will automatically be able to equip those in Overwatch 2, provided they’ve merged their accounts.

As the loot boxes aren’t in the game anymore, the only way to get these skins is to spend the described amount of money in the game shop.

You also won’t get any free skins from playing the event co-op mode. The only rewards you get are some voice lines and a few other cosmetics.

However, you can grab the old Winston’s Werewolf skin for free via Twitch drop. Any returning players can also participate and get their hands on the skin for free by just watching Overwatch 2 on Twitch for four hours.

Overwatch 2 does give you a free Legendary skin for Reaper called the “Cursed Captain“. You can get this skin by logging into the game anytime during the Halloween Terror event.

That’s it. That’s the only good new thing we’re getting for free. Otherwise, every other free reward for participating in the event is mediocre at best.

Other than that, unlike the previous iterations of the Halloween Terror, you won’t be getting any skins for winning the event mode.

In the old Overwatch days, the devs released a survey for Overwatch 2 asking the players if they’d be willing to pay $44.99 for a Mythic Skin and $24.99 for a Legendary Skin.

Oof, friend of mine got an Overwatch survey for his account, some of these prices they're gauging for OW2 are really expensive.

I hope this is just him getting one of the higher price surveys and not an indication that they're leaning towards this much monetization. pic.twitter.com/RWr7LbwkLB

— Portergauge 🏳️‍🌈 (@Portergauge) July 30, 2022

At that point, Blizzard assured the fans that the prices in the survey were “not indicative of final pricing“.

It’s also worth mentioning that Overwatch 2 is free-to-play, unlike its predecessor. So, the only way to generate revenue for the game would be through microtransactions, i.e., skins, bundles, and battle passes. 

However, that still doesn’t justify the massive increase in the price of these skins. You can purchase entire games for $30.00. And paying that amount for a single skin in a free-to-play game sounds nothing short of absurd.

But massive price tags like these are pretty common in free-to-play FPS games like Valorant and CS: GO. These FPS games feature attractive skins for the characters, their weapons, and other cosmetics, which can come cheaper in loot boxes or cost up to $100 from the game store.

At least we haven’t reached that point in Overwatch 2 yet, and hopefully, it won’t ever come to it. But the only way to stop these prices from getting out of hand is not to purchase these skins at such rates and submit feedback to the devs. 

Hopefully, the devs will listen to the community and lower the prices. That will make these skins much more enjoyable and affordable for a larger part of the game’s audience.