Overwatch is getting its second annual Summer Games event starting August 8th, developer Blizzard Games announced today. The timed event, which will last until August 29th, will bring back last year’s coveted Olympics-themed skins at a reduced cost. It will also add new skins and bring backf the soccer-style Lúcioball multiplayer mode, which will arrive with a few design tweaks and a new competitive mode with a ranking system.
Last year’s event debuted during the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and at the time players were not yet allowed to purchase event skins using in-game currency. That left a lot of Overwatch fans upset, as many assumed the event wouldn’t return perhaps for another four years, or in two years in time for the Winter Olympics in 2018. Blizzard has since changed how it handles timed event loot, allowing players to now purchase items using in-game currency earned while playing in the event or stockpiled beforehand.
Now, Blizzard is bringing back all of those old cosmetic items at a reduced cost. The developer says 2016 Summer Event skins can be purchased for 1,000 credits, while epic skins will cost 250 credits and rare items will cost items 75 credits. For the brand new items, Blizzard is charging the standard rates: 3,000 credits for new legendary skins, 750 for epic ones, and 225 for rare.
You can of course obtain these items via loot boxes, which can be bought or earned, and Blizzard back in June decided to make a software-side tweak that cut down on the number of duplicates players receive. Overwatch head Jeff Kaplan confirmed in Blizzard’s developers update today that this Summer Games event will be the first ever timed Overwatch event to feature the new loot box system. That means you won’t suffer as much from the unforgiving mercy of the game’s prior randomness. That’s good news if you happen to want to try and collect everything in the short window of time before the event ends.
