What you need to know
- Blizzard and Xbox have just announced that Overwatch 2, the free-to-play hero shooter, will be coming to Xbox Game Pass on September 17, 2024.
- This actually means that if you have Xbox Game Pass, you will now get a bunch of exclusive cosmetics for the game and a one-time bonus of Mythic Prisms.
- Many people are already asking if this means they can play Overwatch 2 on Xbox Cloud Gaming, and the answer is no. Xbox does not own the rights to this; Ubisoft does.
Blizzard and Xbox just announced that Overwatch 2 will be added to Xbox Game Pass on September 17. “But Overwatch 2 is a free-to-play game?! ” we hear you cry! Yes, but the inclusion means a bunch of extra stuff specifically for Xbox Game Pass players if you link your Battle.net account. Here’s the lowdown on the hero shooters’ inclusion in the huge Xbox Game Pass library.
Overwatch 2 is free-to-play, so what does adding to Xbox Game Pass mean?
The original blogpost from Blizzard positions this as ‘Overwatch 2 is coming to Xbox Game Pass’, but essentially, it will just work like the Game Pass perks. Starting on September 17, when you link your accounts, you’ll get six cool hero skins exclusive to your Xbox Game Pass subscription. You’ll get Cardboard Reinhardt, Turtleship D.Va, Cyberdragon Hanzo, Street Runner Genji, Bee Mercy, and Cleric Lifeweaver.
Additionally, if you link your accounts by November 11, you’ll also receive a one-time bonus of 30 Mythic Prisms. Use these Mythic Prisms to purchase Mythic Shop cosmetics and upgrades in the store.
On top of all this, you’ll get access to shop cosmetics from the past 3 seasons, so it’s a great way for new players to catch up on skins they may have missed the first time. Blizzard will also be giving you a 10% XP boost to help power up your Battle Pass or climb the competitive ranks.
Does this mean Overwatch 2 will be on Xbox Cloud Gaming?
No. Overwatch 2 will not be on the Xbox Cloud Gaming service (yet). When the news broke, I saw many asking this question on social media or blatantly assuming this to be the case; however, as with Diablo 4, it will not be included in cloud gaming. Why? Well, you have the UK Government to thank.
Cast your mind back to the lengthy acquisition of Activision Blizzard that Xbox went through in 2023, part of the negotiations with the UK regulatory body, the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) included the stipulation that Microsoft would give up the cloud streaming rights to all Activision Blizzard titles. To appease the CMA, Microsoft restructured the deal to give Ubisoft the right to this.
So, there are no Activision Blizzard titles on Xbox Cloud Gaming, at least for the time being. However, you can play Overwatch 2 on other cloud services such as Nvidia GeForce Now and Boosteroid.
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How to link your Battle.net account to Xbox Game Pass
- Nevigate to the Battle.net Account Connections page.
- Next to Xbox Network, make sure the Xbox Account with your eligible Game Pass subscription is listed.
- If no account is listed, click the +Connect button to initiate the linking process.
- Ensure you are linking the correct account; account links have cooldowns limiting how often they can be changed. Customer Support cannot assist with bypassing cooldowns on linking accounts.
- If the wrong Xbox Account is listed and it has been more than 1-year since the accounts were linked: Click Disconnect, then click +Connect to initiate the linking process for the correct Xbox Account.
- If the wrong Xbox Account is listed and the link cooldown has not yet expired, you will need to use a new or different Battle.net Account to link to your Xbox Account.
You’ll need to do the above by November 11, 2024 to recieve all of the rewards.
Overwatch 2 also running World of Warcraft crossover
As reported a few days ago, there is also a World of Warcraft collaboration event running on September 17.
