Overwatch's Rio Event Has Players Concerned About Future Skin Releases

If you've played Overwatch since the Rio 2016 Summer Games event went live, you may have noticed that the new event skins can only be obtained through special Summer Games Loot Boxes and that you can't purchase them with in-game currency. Players of Blizzard's wildly popular team shooter are concerned about this for a multitude of reasons. Perhaps the most important reason, however, is that players are unsure of what purpose the currency they've saved up is going to serve if they can't spend it on new skins. With the very first in-game event forcing players to spend real money to get the skins they want, who's to say it won't set a precedent?

One player elaborates by saying that he doesn't like the fact that the Summer Games Loot Boxes have a chance to drop currency, but you can't spend said currency on the Summer Games skins. It is quite perplexing, isn't it?

Blizzard Game Director Jeff Kaplan then responded with a simple sentiment: "Sometimes we want to give everything to everybody. [...] But sometimes we want things to feel rare and special."

He then goes on to say the following.

We wanted to try something new with this event. As we mentioned in the Developer Update, we're learning and experimenting with this event. And if the event is received well (my impression so far is that it is being received well once you remove the debate over the items not being available for credits), we will run it again next year. Our Summer Games are on a yearly schedule -- not a 4 year schedule. Our plan would be to have the items available again when the event recurs. Perhaps we add new content to it as well? We're not sure yet... we're seeing what works and what doesn't.

We'd like to give the event more time and see how people feel as it wraps up. Maybe people will be feeling differently at the end of the vent. Maybe not. If we need to make things less rare -- if everyone is entitled to that Genji Epic Skin -- we'll have to reconsider our design philosophy in the future.

Many of the responses have been less than kind. Some players feel that Kaplan called them the equivalent of "entitled babies" and perhaps even that Kaplan missed the point of why the move concerns them. Others have responded to Kaplan saying that the current setup encourages an inordinate amount of gambling in order to get the skin(s) they want, especially if you work and don't have the time to grind for free Loot Boxes.

The criticisms are valid. Players don't like that the current system makes it so that the skins are only "cool and rare" to those that don't pay for Loot Boxes. Many don't like that their game, which cost them between $40 and $60, will have time-gated content that they can never obtain unless they partake in the absurd grind or drop a large amount of money on the event. Some are concerned that the "wait and see" mentality is being used in hopes that it will placate the masses until the event is over and nothing can be changed.

It remains to be seen how the situation will affect future events. Should the event return next year, many are confused as to how it would even work. Perhaps there will be another event later this year for which Blizzard will take the criticism into serious consideration when planning. In the meantime, however, it seems nothing will be changed for the Rio event.