During the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2024, Blizzard revealed some of its upcoming plans. These included a collaboration for Overwatch 2 with the hit anime My Hero Academia, as well as StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II, both heading to PC Game Pass.
The Overwatch 2 collaboration will begin on October 17 and through October 30, where players will get the opportunity to obtain skins of characters such as Deku, Uravity, All Might, Kiriko, and Tomura Shigaraki. Of course, these skins are premium, so players will have to fork over some money to get the skin they choose. The skins are typically $19 each, with the bundles typically being about $67. The paid skins have been a point of controversy since Overwatch 2 was released. While the loot boxes were predatory to a degree, they at least gave the option for people to try and earn the legendary skins for free via loot boxes rather than forcing them to pay for it or hope they scrounge up enough currency from purchasing the Battle Passes. It’s unlikely Blizzard will ever go back on this decision.
The second main announcement that came from Blizzard during the Tokyo Game Show was regarding StarCraft. As of November 5, StarCraft: Remastered and StarCraft II: Campaign Collection will be available to those who have a PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate subscription. This franchise is incredibly popular and is one of the most iconic games in the franchise. For the most part, StarCraft: Remastered was well revered in the community and felt like a faithful remaster of the game, as the campaign and gameplay elements were unchanged. For the most part, StarCraft: Remastered was the perfect game for professional players, as it’s an ‘almost perfect’ remaster of the original. However, for the ordinary player, it fell a bit short.
With the game being added to Game Pass, it means players will be able to test out the game without having to fork out more money on the Battle.net client to be able to play StarCraft. The original StarCraft is still available on Battle.net for free, but you’ll have to pay $15.99 if you want to play the remastered version.
While it may seem on Battle.net that you can play StarCraft II for free, you will have to pay to be able to play the campaign if you want to dive into the expansive story. With the games being added to Game Pass, it’s significantly cheaper to play them via Game Pass than purchased on Battle.net.
By being on Game Pass, players will be able to experience the game that helped continue to influence the RTS genre, with players able to interact with three different factions throughout both games.
