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Overwatch's Nyan Cafe bundle should be a slam dunk for the game as far as cosmetic packages go. Pink cat-themed maid outfits on five fan-favorite heroes? What's not to love? Blizzard Entertainment has all but assured its otherwise fun new outfits are steeped in backlash, however, thanks to a hard to swallow price and a new rarity of skins.
For those who aren't deep in the Overwatch trenches, bundles that package a bunch of themed Legendary outfits and cosmetics normally cost around 6,900 OW Coins or about $60 in real-world cash. The Nyan Cafe bundle instead costs 9,900 OW Coins, meaning most players will need to fork out an extra $100 since, like most live-service games, Overwatch doesn't let you buy an exact amount of coins.
Blizzard's reasoning for the bundle's higher price is that it's introducing two Ultra Skins for Sierra and Kiriko, a new rarity of skin, alongside three regular Legendary outfits for Reaper, Orisa, and Ashe. Buying the Ultra Skins in their individual character bundles costs 4,500 OW Coins ($40).
What sets Ultra Skins apart are the extra sound and visual effects added to reloads or eliminations, in this case a puff of pink cat-shaped smoke lands wherever an enemy dies, though Blizzard says it's "leaving things open for future innovation."
Fans were almost immediately dismayed at the new prices. "The quality of this game's cosmetic content keeps getting lower and lower while the prices get higher and higher," one player writes on the game's subreddit. "To quote one of this game's own characters, 'you shame yourself.'"
"As someone who's totally comfortable with blowing money on things I enjoy, no expense spared, this is just insulting. I don't enjoy the microtransaction culture in businesses and I'm disliking it even more seeing its evolution to macrotransactions," another response reads.
Similar sentiments are echoed up and down Overwatch's various online communities. The main worry is that Ultra Skins are just Blizzard's Trojan Horse dressed up in bright colors – a way to charge even more money for what would've been labelled a Legendary otherwise.
Pretty much the only person not irked by the price bump is noted Conker enjoyer and freshly-minted Overwatcher Doja Cat, who tweets: "On another note there is a new Nyan Café bundle on overwatch and it is one of the best things that has ever happened to me on this planet. I can't believe this is fucking real. Sierra’s skin is so good like I can't breathe."
Overwatch has always had pretty steep cosmetic prices, even compared to its direct competition, and so I can definitely understand the player frustration after seeing costs inflate without that much value being added on top.
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