Pretty much confirms what I said.

It went F2P 4 years after launch. Who said Overwatch isn't going F2P in 2020?

I would agree, but players forced Bungie to add story and a fully fleshed out campaign to Destiny.

"Multi-player only" games are only a problem if you consider "Single-player only" games to be a problem.

When I was a kid, I didn't have access to my parents funds. That makes no sense to me and is a part of irresponsible parenting.
The OP is just looking to throw blame at overwatch, because it's popular, and will ignore anything that doesn't support his argument. We all know overwatch did nothing first, from leaving out single player, to having micro-transactions, or anything else.

It did not in any way pioneer a path for other companies to follow suite. Overwatch gives you the opportunity to get everything in the game, outside of 3, or 4 costumes completely free. Overwatch is profitable, and makes a lot of money, and with several evens happening throughout the year, along with the regular release of new characters and stages, it's clear that the money is going back into the game.

There's tons of games that don't give out DLC characters and stages for free.

Overwatch isn't even obligated to give it's extra content away for free. It could have all it's content behind paywalls, and charge a monthly subscription to play the game.

What has happened are big companies moving to the cell phone market because fewer and fewer companies want to spend big money on a project that could fail. Especially if it's a new concept. But, that's fine. Have fun with your endless sequels, and blame overwatch for a cell phone strategy that it, on its own, had nothing to do with. You'll still have to suffer the consequences regardless of taking blame at overwatch or not. It's just the biggest thing you have to point your fingers at. But because of the cell-phone structure of being cheaper to create, and filled with microtransactions, it would have crossed over anyway as a means to suppliment the growing costs of games.

Everyone's defending overwatch, though. Maybe there's a serious flaw in your thinking. You know what I did? I bought the singular pink mercy skin on the day of the release. I didn't care that it was 15 dollars. I've also bought lootboxes too if I don't get what I want near the end of the event. If it saves me time, and hassle, or having to wait an entire year to get, it's my money and I can decide if it's worth it.

If anyone has an issue with that, then you can wait until the government steps in, and tell these companies what they can and can't do, because obviously the true adult is not the individual, but the government.

It's a fad and like all fad's, it'll pass. Just focus on games you like and let it die naturally.

What you’re saying is literally ridiculous. The main demographic for console games, especially those with micro transactions, are adults between 25 and 35. Kids and teens aren’t being targeted. If a teenager with their own money is spending everything on micro transactions to the point of self destruction, again, that’s the parent’s fault for not sufficiently teaching them the value of money.

Games have ALWAYS used psychology to exploit players, from arcades to grinding in RPGs to micro transactions, it’s all the same. And guess what? Movies do it too. And television. And books, and music, and all forms of artistic expression. There is nothing more inherently exploitative here than what appears anywhere else.

There’s nothing ignorant about my remarks here. In fact, they are extremely self aware. I’m not cheating - I’m skipping an inherently flawed, unsatisfying gameplay loop. It sucks. It’s boring, tedious, repetitive, and holds absolutely no constructive value. If it did, no one would pay to skip it and there would be no business model. If you waste your time grinding for anything, you’re the pitiable one, not me. Frankly, loot boxes shouldn’t even be necessary because the whole design philosophy is flawed, but that philosophy predates this bandage by decades. It’s never going away because people like you have been trained to be addicted to it or be apathetic to it, so again bring on the micro transactions.

If you seriously think that people buying loot boxes for what is literally a recreational hobby is in any way comparable to professional doping, where the stakes are much higher and the consequences to all parties is far more severe, then you’re perspective is in need of some serious re-evaluation.

Overwatch is a successful game, but to what degree nobody knows because Blizzard won't divulge total units sold across PS4/X1/PC. Another thing that ALOT of people don't realize is that South Korea, Overwatch's biggest market - dont even buy digital/physical copies because players in SK gain access to Overwatch from Internet Cafes and pay for an allotted time for the service. So with that said - South Korea's player base for Overwatch simply CAN'T be attributed to sales numbers.

The Overwatch League however, will not be around for more than a few more years. Ratings and viewership have already peaked, with no inclination that they'll ever go back up. Blizzard still has alot to learn before Overwatch can truly succeed as a global esport.

I give it around 2021 when Blizzard cuts the cord on OWL.

Hmm. I disagree and I don't like that genre. The thing is that other people do like it and I'm fine with that. Loot boxes will go away when people buy the game but don't buy any loot boxes. It wouldn't be worth the flak they catch for 'em. It's a multiplayer game so a single player campaign isn't really a big deal.