To say Overwatch 2 had a rocky launch would be an understatement. Beyond general criticisms of Activision Blizzard, Overwatch 2 was plagued with problems, like reports of players failing to merge their previous accounts, the Kiriko battle pass debacle, and broken heroes such as Bastion and Torbjorn. Many of these have not been completely fixed, or even addressed by Blizzard yet.
But all is not doom and gloom for Overwatch, as the launch of Overwatch 2 as a free-to-play title has brought new life to the once-stagnant franchise. Player numbers have gone up, resulting in faster queue times and quicker games. No one knows how long this honeymoon phase will last, but players should be happy while it last. One point of contention that is getting people to play Overwatch 2 should be addressed if it wants to stay relevant: Twitch Drops.
Trading Time For Overwatch Cosmetics
To obtain Overwatch 2 Twitch Drops, players can link a game account such as Activision Blizzard's Battle.net services to Amazon Twitch, earning "free" stuff. Instead of paying money for Twitch Drops, viewers must spend a certain amount of time watching partnered streams. The amount of required viewing time and kinds of Twitch Drops depend on the company behind the title. Viewers can spend two hours watching streams just to earn a measly gun charm, or eight hours to earn an exclusive legendary skin for a certain game.
To celebrate the launch of Overwatch 2, Activision Blizzard enabled drops for all Overwatch 2 streams on Twitch. The first round of Twitch Drops took place from October 7 to 16, and allowed players to earn cosmetics based on the new ninja healer, Kiriko. Watching two hours of Overwatch 2 on Twitch would allow players to unlock Kiriko's "I Take Care of My Friends" voice line, while watching six hours total would give players access to Kiriko's legendary "Sukajan" skin.
The second round of Twitch Drops is currently live from October 17 to 24, giving players a chance to earn Kiriko's "Razor Sharp" spray (which requires two hours of Overwatch 2 Twitch viewing time) and the equippable Donut weapon charm (which requires five total hours). It should be noted that both Twitch drop rounds require viewers to manually redeem the first Twitch rewards before they can start their progress on the second ones. For example, the first round required viewers to pick up the "I Take Care of My Friends" voice line before progress on the legendary "Sukajan" skin could commence. It's a small thing that people should keep in mind if they want to get as many Twitch Drops as possible.
The Overwatch 2 Drops Are Lackluster
Aside from the legendary "Sukajan" skin (which is a recolor of Kiriko's "Athleisure" skin that can be purchased in-game for Overwatch Coins) the rest of the Overwatch 2 loot drops are disproportionate to the time needed to unlock them. Sprays and voice lines aren't always used during gameplay, and Overwatch 2 weapon charms are small, often not fitting within the context of the game. It could be argued that those who are really into Overwatch 2 will see these Twitch Drops as a reward for their dedication, but the amount of time needed to unlock the cosmetics is still high.
If Activision Blizzard wants to keep Twitch views of Overwatch 2 strong, it should have Twitch Drops that are worth viewers' time. It could either add unique skins that aren't just recolors, or create cosmetics that are proportionate to the time needed to unlock them (conversely, Activision Blizzard could also lower the cost for existing cosmetics). While the lackluster Twitch Drops work fine during the early days of Overwatch 2, over time they could hurt the game's viewer count. Players will soon realize that it isn't worth watching hours of Overwatch 2 Twitch streams for the current lineup of unlockable cosmetics, and will become less inclined to play the game.
Overwatch 2 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.