Overwatch slaps a loot box band-aid on its disappointing tenth anniversary event, promising more later

Ten years is a big milestone, yet Blizzard's Overwatch anniversary event has felt like anything but a grand celebration. Ever since its total rebirth earlier this year, Overwatch has been riding high again, reclaiming its rightful place in the pantheon of multiplayer games with a clutch of new heroes and much more proactive updates. The tenth anniversary has knocked that momentum right out of me, and many others, however. Offering just a basic set of character skins, a handful of loot boxes, and a small selection of community-made cosmetics, it doesn't feel worthy of such an important occasion.

The 'launch hero skins' awarded are a series of purple-and-white recolors that are at best simple, and at worst a little gaudy - certainly not up to the flash of the recent cosmetics you can buy for real money. With a total of 15 anniversary loot boxes plus up to six containing legendary skins, it doesn't convey the climax of a ten-year journey. Game Director Aaron Keller acknowledges the frustration. "We've been reading and watching reactions to the anniversary event this week, and they're fair," he writes via X. "Ten years of Overwatch is a huge milestone, and we want this entire year to feel like a celebration of Overwatch."

Keller explains, "While the current anniversary event is a one-off, we absolutely want to continue delivering goodness throughout this special year." For starters, he says the team is planning "an additional season-long event in Season 3 with even more rewards, and expanding the base level of earnable rewards in our weekly Play N Games tracker, while working on other ideas for later in the year." He acknowledges that "future rewards don't make this specific event bigger," but hopes players will understand "how we're thinking about this year as a whole."

For the time being, Keller announces that Blizzard is ramping up the rewards for the ongoing celebration. "For weeks two and three of this anniversary event we're increasing the number of community loot boxes: doubling in week two and tripling in week three, and reducing the total number of games to earn all 15 anniversary loot boxes to 60 (wins count as double). During week three, all players will also receive a ten-year anniversary loot box containing four guaranteed legendary skins."

That brings the total count of legendaries up to ten, although there are still no mythics on offer, something that is up for grabs in the seemingly more generous Chinese anniversary event, shown below courtesy of 'Link4750' on YouTube. This affords mythic skins through login bonuses, and the ability to get older cosmetics including those from past battle passes. As someone who remembers the days when our anniversary events used to make all old skins temporarily available, I'm sad we don't have something similar now.

Despite them being the only make-good for the time being, Keller says, "We also agree that rewards broadly can be more than loot boxes, and we will share more details on other anniversary celebration elements when we have updates down the road." He concludes, "Thank you always for your passion, your feedback, and for your care for Overwatch over the past decade and beyond."

With what a strong year Overwatch has had so far, I'm hopeful Blizzard can still deliver on that promise to make the year into more of an extended celebration, letting us put the memory of these tepid two-tone skins behind us and embrace a game that so many of us have loved for so long.