Overwatch will not be free to play, Blizzard confirms

We finally have confirmation that, as we speculated earlier this week, Blizzard's team-based FPS Overwatch will not be free-to-play. Instead, it will be released in three different editions, coming in at three different price points.

The standard edition of Overwatch will include 21 "extraordinary heroes" and sell for $40. For $60, you can upgrade to the Overwatch Origins Edition, which tacks on five "Origin Skins" that tie into the game's lore—Overgrown Bastion, Blackwatch Reyes, Slipstream Tracer, Strike-Commander Morrison, and Security Chief Pharah—and bonus items for other Blizzard games: Mercy's Wings for Diablo 3, six in-game portraits for StarCraft 2, an Overwatch card back, a Baby Winston pet for World of Warcraft, and the Tracer hero in Heroes of the Storm.

And finally, for the big spenders out there, is the physical Collector's Edition, which bears a $130 price tag and comes with a source book, soundtrack, a statue of Soldier 76, and of course everything that's included with the Origins Edition. Prepurchasing any of the three editions will also net you a bonus Noir Widowmaker skin at launch.

Blizzard also revealed that Overwatch is expected to go live in the spring 2016, "on or before 06/21/16." A prepurchase option is live now at Battle.net.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.