Overwatch 2 dev criticized for ‘tone deaf’ comments on Premium Event Pass rewards

Overwatch 2‘s executive producer, Jared Neuss, is facing criticism after his latest comments on Premium Event Pass rewards. Neuss took a defensive stance during a discussion on X, which originally started because players argued the pass doesn’t give access to all rewards—and that got everyone riled up.

The Winter Fair event in Overwatch 2 is currently underway, offering players the chance to get their hands on a few legendary skins, but there’s a catch; players who haven’t paid for the Premium Event Pass can never hope to actually obtain any of the legendary skins. Instead, non-paying gamers only have access to 120 tickets in the event, and seeing as each legendary skin costs 160 tickets, they’ve effectively been paywalled. If you really want those legendary skins, you’re going to have to dish out the five bucks.

Following a discussion on X (formerly Twitter), where Blizzard’s model for the event was roundly criticized, Overwatch 2 boss Jared Neuss had a few things to say. He defended Blizzard’s approach, saying the new pass does contain enough value as is before adding that getting four legendary skins was well worth the price of $5. “It’s $5 for four Legendary skins, which feels squarely in the spirit of the holidays to me,” Neuss said.

That seems to have rubbed many Overwatch 2 fans the wrong way, with hundreds of players saying as much—and criticizing the OW2 executive—on Reddit this weekend.

The biggest response from fans was that, no matter how you shape it, the doesn’t give you direct access to the skins. Instead, you pay for the option to grind for those skins. The “spirit of holidays” claim was just as lambasted, with many saying The “spirit of Holidays” bit was targeted by another user, who said holidays are meant for spending time with loved ones in a festive and charitable environment and not for continuous grinding for paywalled skins.

“Giving Activision $5 for some pixels is very much in the spirit of the holidays? What did I just read?” said another user criticizing Neuss’s comments.

In general, battle passes have become quite mainstream, especially in titles developed by Activision-Blizzard. Popularized over the years, the pass concept revolves around players paying for the privilege of grind. Sometimes, the skins and the items one unlocks may prove worth the time and effort to obtain them, and even the money invested, but the Winter Fair pass doesn’t appear so. If the criticisms are anything to go by, OW2 may need to change its MO and eliminate the FOMO to embrace the true spirit of the Winter Holidays.