Like a lot of other people, I’m eagerly awaiting this weekend in order to hopefully learn some new information about Overwatch. One of the most talked about subjects is what the pay model is going to be like. In this article I’ll talk about the different pay models and what they might mean in a game like Overwatch.

The Old School – Buy the “Box” + Expansions

This is probably the most standard pay model that existed before Free 2 Play became huge. You pay once for the “box” and you get all the content for free. After a period of time, an expansion comes out with more content that you can also buy once and get all of it.

Pros

Fixed price.

Very likely to get additional content since it’s the main way for Blizzard to make more money.

Cons

From my familiarity with Blizzard, expansions will take a long time to release. It’s likely that we’ll get new content only every 4-6 months and the game might get stale in the meantime.

High entry price. Although eventually it’s much cheaper than Free 2 Play models, $60 is still a lot to pay for some people.

Smaller community. This is a side effect of the high entry price. Today we know for sure that Free 2 Play games have a much bigger player base than games with an entry price.

Expansions might end up dividing the community since people who won’t buy them won’t be able to play on the same maps. It’s a possibility that maps will be free and only new characters will be included in the expansion, however that doesn’t seem very likely.

How Likely is this to Happen?

Since Blizzard already announced that all the heroes will be available immediately for everyone, this model is a very good possibility. You have to keep in mind though that the problem of community division through expansions is very real and Blizzard will need to find a good way to deal with it if they choose this model.

The Squeezer – Free 2 Play (locked content)

Probably the most popular pay model today, Free 2 Play lets you start play for free, but squeezes money from the player in every opportunity it gets. This model has been somewhat of a plague in the last few years, ruining good games by requiring the player to spend either hundreds of hours or dollars in order to enjoy all of the content.

Pros

You can start play for free in order to see if you really like the game or not.

This model naturally attracts a huge amount of players and thus creating very big communities for the game.

Content will be released regularly since that’s the main source of revenue for the company.

Cons

Like with the “Box” model, this has the potential to split communities if for some reason maps will become a part of the paid content.

If you don’t have 8+ hours a day to play, plan to spend a lot of money in order to experience all the content.

How Likely is this to Happen?

Very unlikely in my opinion. This is a terrible model that can single handedly ruin this game’s chances of success. Also given the fact that Blizzard announced that all the characters are going to be free, I don’t think there is very much room content to buy.

The Valve – Free 2 Play (cosmetics)

Similar to “The Squeezer”, this model lets you start play for free. The main difference however is that all of the game’s content stays free and the only thing that is locked behind a paywall is cosmetics. This model has been popular with Valve’s games like Dota2 and Team Fortress 2.

Pros

No entry fee means a very big community.

Cosmetic content will be released on a regular basis. This probably also means that we will see more characters since it provides opportunity for more cosmetics.

You don’t have to spend any money at all to experience the full game.

Cons

There is a possibility that Blizzard won’t create a lot of new maps since it doesn’t really make them any money directly.

Cosmetics might get out of hand. This is actually my main concern since Blizzard has a bad record (from Heroes of the Storm) for making character skins that completely change how the character looks and it can become very confusing.

How Likely is this to Happen?

I believe that this is the most likely model. It works perfectly with Blizzard’s plan to make the characters free, while still allows them to make a ton of money from cosmetics. If I was a gambling man, I would put my money on this.

The WoW – Monthly Subscription

Another very real possibility is adopting the World of Warcraft model of paying a monthly fee in order to play the game. This has been extremely successful for Blizzard for many years and there is a chance that they might try and use it for Overwatch as well.

Pros

New content will probably be released quite often since it’s the main reason that people will keep paying every month.

Cons

Over time this will cost a lot of money.

Less people will be inclined to pay a monthly fee thus creating a smaller player base.

How Likely is this to Happen?

Not very likely. This works very well in WoW due to the nature of the game, but I wouldn’t bet on it working well in a game like Overwatch.

Conclusion

There is no way to know what Blizzard will decide to do until they announce it (hopefully this weekend!). Nonetheless, from all the options that they have, I believe that “The Valve” model is best way for them to both create a large player base and make a lot of money in the process. There is obviously a chance that they will mix any number of these models and create something new, which might be even better than we think.

Let us know what you think Blizzard will end up doing, and lets all enjoy this hopefully great weekend together!

More articles by GreatOldOne:

You Suck – The Guide to Self-Improvement

Evolving the eSports industry – Why pro players should be treated like entrepreneurs instead of freelancers