Overwatch 2 is bringing Overwatch Credits back, but there are strings attached

What you need to know

• Overwatch 2 Season 3 is bringing Legacy Credits back, returning their original Overwatch Credits name and making them earnable by progressing through seasonal Battle Passes.
• The price of legacy Legendary skins is also being reduced to 1,500 Overwatch Credits (or Coins), and legacy event skins will be purchasable year-round.
• However, players will only be able to earn 1,500 Overwatch Credits from the free Battle Pass track, and 500 from the Premium track. That’s a limit of one legacy skin per season.
• Season 3 is expected to go live on February 7, 2023.

When Overwatch officially became Overwatch 2 in late 2022, its progression system got a major overhaul. Loot boxes and random drops gave way to “freemium” Battle Passes and an in-game microtransaction shop, and the game’s currency, Overwatch Credits, were turned into Legacy Credits as Overwatch 2 kicked off its new free-to-play model with purchasable Overwatch Coins. 

These Legacy Credits can be used to buy old skins and other cosmetics from the original game, but since launch, there hasn’t been a way to earn them. The only people that have any are veteran players that had Overwatch Credits on their account when Overwatch 2 went live.

That’s changing, however. In a new Season 2 retrospective blog post, developer Blizzard Entertainment has announced that when Overwatch 2 Season 3 goes live (the expected release date is February 7), Legacy Credits will transform back into Overwatch Credits, and will be earnable from seasonal Battle Passes. Additionally, the price of old Legendary skins is being reduced to 1,500 Overwatch Credits (or Coins), and legacy limited time skins will be unlockable year-round rather than restricted to their events.

Overall, it’s a step in the right direction, as new Overwatch 2 players finally have a clear way to unlock older cosmetics without having to spend Overwatch Coins. The catch, though, is that there will only be 2,000 Overwatch Credits on offer per each nine-week season — 1,500 from the Free Battle Pass track, and 500 from the Premium ($10) Battle Pass track. That means you’ll only be able to get one legacy skin per season if you don’t get the Premium Battle Pass, with the occasional second purchase if you do and save up the exclusive 500 bonus credits over the course of a few seasons.

This is incredibly disappointing, as it’s only a marginal improvement over the system we have now. While it’s good that new players won’t have to use the premium Overwatch Coin currency to get older unlocks, it’s frankly ridiculous that people are being limited to one legacy skin unlock per season. In the original Overwatch, you could earn several Legendary skins in just a few weeks by playing regularly, opening loot boxes, and spending your earned Overwatch Credits.

Obviously the move to a free-to-play model necessitates a model with more prominent monetization, but Blizzard continues to struggle with finding a good balance. Even with this change, Overwatch 2 will remain frustratingly unrewarding to play. The developers have thankfully said that “more updates are coming in future seasons” to improve things further, but the game’s ongoing failure to respect player time and investment makes me regret expressing excitement about an RNG-less model in my Overwatch 2 review. At least loot boxes, as randomized as they were, were fruitful.