Earlier last week, an email went out to Boston Uprising fans containing an unusual message. Inside the newsletter, the Uprising offered a free copy of Overwatch for PC, as long as the player’s account did not already own the game. This surprised fans of the Overwatch League, as typically Overwatch has only been free on certain weekends during promotional events. After reaching out to the Boson Uprising, The Game Haus confirmed the free-game codes were indeed the real deal. Shortly after the news broke out, the Uprising had to remove the form that allowed fans to request a copy due to a mass-influx of requests at the same time.
[Related: Boston Uprising Offering Free Copies of Overwatch for New Players]
Despite its short up-time, the news created large amounts of discussion around a free version of Overwatch. The move seemed almost random at first, especially as it came without fanfare or a large amount of promotion. Though it appears that this may not be an isolated incident, and fans of the game should keep their eyes out for more codes going forward.
Free Copies of Overwatch From OWL Teams
Soon after the commotion died down, Jon Spector, Vice President of the Overwatch League, made an announcement regarding potential giveaways in the future. The announcement notes that teams do have limited free copies to hand out to fans in anyway they see fit.
We’re working with @PlayOverwatch and all of our franchises at the league to give away PC copies of the game and League Tokens to fans in limited quantities and for a limited time. Teams will be going live with their promotions soon, make sure to follow them for more details!
— Jon Spector (@Spex_J) October 1, 2020
In fact, following Boston’s giveaway, the Washington Justice General Manager Aaron “PRE” Heckmann and VP of Business Grant Paranjape both sent out tweets noting they would pick random winners to receive free codes. The contests held by the two Washington members only confirms that the franchises all already have the codes, and are just figuring out how they want to distribute them to fans.
Why not start now, I'll pick 10 folks to give a PC code of @PlayOverwatch (+200 OWL tokens). Like and retweet to enter- and we'll pick some winners Sunday night. #Overwatch #JusticeIsServed
— Grant Paranjape (@Keiranthil) October 1, 2020
The Washington Justice appear to want to use their social media presence in order to hand out copies, rather than a form that players need to fill out. The two practices certainly set the tone for the giveaways, as other teams can make their decision of how to disseminate their copies of Overwatch. It looks like each team has access to a certain amount of codes, so make sure to keep tabs on each team to get a chance to grab a copy.
Will Overwatch be Free Sooner Than we Thought?
Now that audiences know Blizzard is at least accepting the idea of handing out copies of Overatch, this off-season will be an interesting time for the game. Could the game transition to free-to-play full time? Would it be going free-to-play because of the imminent release of Overwatch 2? These questions may very well be answered sooner than we think. For the time being, players can kill time with a free copy of Overwatch until we all hear a little bit more news.
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Featured image courtesy of Tasps Katopodi and the Overwatch League
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