Overwatch 2 Season 10 will automatically unlock all Heroes for players regardless of Battle Pass

In today’s Overwatch 2 developer update it was revealed that starting in Season 10 all new Heroes will become available immediately upon introduction, and all existing Heroes will also be unlocked for all players if they hadn’t earned them in past Seasons. This is a dramatic change, as previously the Heroes had to be unlocked via that Season’s Battle Pass — either by grinding through a lot of the tiers of the Season, or paying up for the Premium Battle Pass — or acquired afterwards. From here forward, the newly released Heroes will be available for anyone to play across all game modes regardless of the Battle Pass, though we’ll likely still see the usual couple weeks of buffer while people learn the new Hero in Quick Play before they’re unlocked in Competitive Mode.

The gating of Heroes behind the Battle Pass has been a controversial one since Overwatch 2 went live almost 18 months ago, and is generally considered one of numerous missteps by the franchise since the sequel was announced alongside the abandonment of PVE mode and the death of the Overwatch League. Despite these issues however the game remains popular, with it frequently ranking among the top ten viewer categories on Twitch.

The automatic unlocking of Heroes is definitely a positive step as it brings the game closer to its original roots. While brand new players will still need to complete the first-time user experience to unlock the initial batch of Heroes, there won’t be any additional hoops — or money to spend — to obtain the newer Heroes like Mauga, or Season 10’s upcoming DPS Hero, Venture. This will allow the game to be marketed as a comprehensive experience for all players, and will also ensure that Hero reworks and redesigns will allow for maximum player input.

Venture will be the first new Hero that this applies to, as they are set to arrive with Season 10 bringing the playable roster to 40. Season 10 also bring the new Clash mode, a return (in spirit) to the original “2 Control Point” maps but with more control points to expand the gameplay. The development team is clearly working on keeping Overwatch 2 updated so players stay interested, but freeing up the Heroes goes above and beyond to ensure a democratic player experience. Whether this is the result of the change in leadership or simply a case of finally realizing it was the right thing to do is likely to remain unknown, but it’s a huge positive that should be celebrated.