You Can't Play Mei In Overwatch 2 Right Now, But You Can Buy A $10 Skin For Her

Overwatch 2 hero Mei hasn't been playable since the end of October, when Blizzard took the character offline due to game-breaking bugs caused by her Ice Wall move. While the patch has been pushed back from November 15 to November 17, Blizzard decided to go ahead with the release of a new $10 epic skin for Mei on the 15th, even though she's still missing from the roster.

The skin release, which was picked up by Kotaku, was part of a scheduled shop refresh that dropped on the same day Mei was intended to be patched back into the game. While Blizzard pushed back a few other features to line up with the new patch date on Thursday, it decided to go ahead with the launch of Mei's Epic Retro Star Skin.

The cute skin is just salt in the wound for Mei fans, who have been without the character for over three weeks now. While it's only two days between the skin's launch and Mei's return to the game, the move has been criticized by fans who are already skeptical about the free-to-play sequel's approach to monetization.

The sequel, which replaced the original Overwatch on October 4, has already drawn criticism over changes related to its new monetization strategy, including locking new characters behind battle pass progression, and a $26 skin bundle released as part of the game's Halloween event.