Blizzard Undecided on Overwatch Microtransaction Plans

Blizzard has not yet decided whether it will introduce additional means of monetising its upcoming team-based shooter Overwatch after it launches.

Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer, game director Jeff Kaplan was asked how the game, which is going to be released as a full-priced title and will offer DLC for free, will be funded post-launch.

"We haven't locked in exactly whether there'll be additional monetisation after launch or not," Kaplan replied. "Some of that is because we want to watch the launch itself and see how successful that is, and see what sort of player base we end up with and see how engaged they are."

Continuing, Kaplan said Blizzard is currently focused on making the game an enjoyable experience, instead of thinking about its business model.

"Right now, our biggest concern with Overwatch isn't about how many ways in which we can monetise people, but it's more along the lines of making sure that the game is really fun and that we get a really big audience that enjoys playing the game with each other. From there, it's easier to figure out what to do."

On December 7, Blizzard announced that additional maps and heroes will be released after the game's initial launch, and these will be made available at no cost.

"We thought about this and we decided the best way to add them to the game is to patch them in as free content and not as [paid] DLC."

In November, the studio announced that, in addition to PC, Overwatch would be coming to Xbox One and PS4. The game is not free-to-play, as many expected it would be.

Blizzard also explained that the game will not offer cross-platform play across PC and consoles due to the advantage computer players might have.