It’s Thursday, so it's time to look back over the past week of TheGamer’s features, from Overwatch 2’s messy battle pass to Edgerunners reviving CD Projekt Red’s panned PR nightmare.
All the while, Twitch streamers are taking a stance against gambling, while Xbox brings HowLongToBeat support into its library to let you know what time investment you’re making before you dive in. Speaking of diving in…
Overwatch 2 Is Already Making Some Weird Mistakes With Its Battle Pass
Overwatch 2 is taking Blizzard’s 2016 hit and making it a free-to-play game which, as features lead Jade King points out, makes perfect sense. In the past six years, we’ve had goliaths like Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and Fortnite take centre stage - Overwatch is simply evolving with the times.
Part of that is introducing a battle pass, allowing you to unlock a slew of cosmetics without sifting through endless loot boxes. But some heroes are locked to the battle pass, making it a grind to get the newest releases, even if they are free. This is a significant shift in what Overwatch is all about - experimentation; Now you have to spend hours to unlock a character to try them, and you might not even enjoy them enough to warrant that investment.
Streamers Taking On Twitch's Gambling Meta Is Long Overdue, Hypocritical, And Worrying
ItsSliker admitted to scamming over $200,000 from his followers for his gambling addiction, sparking platform-wide controversy on Twitch. Gambling has long been a problem for the streaming site, becoming the latest in a long line of ‘metas’, and now several high-profile streamers have called on Twitch to ban them en masse.
While it’s a great thing to advocate for, it’s somewhat upsetting considering that smaller streamers banded together for #ADayOffTwitch to raise awareness for the hate raids being held against marginalised creators, but no big names joined in, as Stacey notes.
Meanwhile, the whole meta has stirred up behind-the-scenes drama, with TrainwrecksTV calling out Mizkif for allegedly covering up sexual assault for his friends. Why didn’t he speak up before? It’s a messy situation - calling out gambling is good, but Stacey argues that it takes the right circumstances for streamers to take action, all in the name of good press.
Edgerunners Has Breathed New Life Into Cyberpunk 2077
Edgerunners is a new anime set in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, the highly-anticipated game that had an infamously rocky and controversial launch. It was losing players and support fast. But this new anime has sparked new life into the game, as it now boasts over a million players a day, and the general conversations around Cyberpunk 2077 have shifted in tone - people seem to be swinging back around to enjoy this gem in the rough.
Official HowLongToBeat Integration Is Long Overdue
Finally, Xbox has implemented How Long to Beat, giving you a heads up on how long on average it’ll take you to go for a completionist run or just a main story playthrough. With gaming’s approach to length changing thanks to subscription services such as Game Pass and PS Plus, features editor Andrew King argues that this is long overdue, letting people find shorter nuggets to power through in their free time, or bigger time sinks for those who prefer a longer adventure with more commitment.