After Finally Redeeming Itself in 2025, Overwatch 2 Just Made a Massive Mistake

It took time for Overwatch 2 to redeem itself and justify its existence, but through hard work and consistent updates from Aaron Keller and Team 4, the game did just that in 2025. Progression 2.0 and earnable loot boxes are a great motivation to keep playing outside of battle passes, while the core gameplay has been improved via the perk system. Overwatch 2’s lore codex has recently been added and is a useful tool for story lovers, while Stadium brought new life to Overwatch 2 and truly made the franchise feel new for the first time in years. With such a hot streak, it’s a bit strange that Overwatch 2 ended 2025 (and is starting 2026) with a controversy.

Said controversy is rather simple: Overwatch 2 is holding a region-exclusive event in China right now focused on Talon, and players in every other region are feeling left out because of it. Sure, there have been other region-exclusive events for China before, as this version of the game is essentially playing catch-up to the main version, with Overwatch having been inaccessible in China for a few years. That doesn’t make it any less disappointing, though, especially when taking into consideration how many cool cosmetics can be earned in this China-exclusive event. While Overwatch 2’s Winter Wonderland had a good variety of rewards, it’s winding down now, and being able to earn a few skin recolors, tier skips, and loot boxes doesn’t compare with getting some of the very best cosmetics entirely for free.

Overwatch 2’s “Black Claw Archive” Showers Chinese Players in Quality Loot

While this limited-time Chinese event doesn’t offer exclusive game modes or lore — two things that would really outrage players in other regions — it does offer some of the rarest and most sought-after Overwatch 2 cosmetics. These include, but aren’t limited to:

• Demon Hunter Sombra
• Luchador Reaper
• Chained King Reaper
• Thunder Doomfist
• Lilith Moira
• Ninja Sombra

These skins stand out for different reasons. Chained King Reaper, Luchador Reaper, and Thunder Doomfist are rare because they’re former OWL outfits, with players outside China permanently losing access to them over a year ago. Lilith Moira was part of the expensive ultimate battle pass bundle during the Diablo 4 collab Season, while Ninja Sombra was a Season 19 battle pass exclusive. Demon Hunter Sombra is perhaps the most surprising unlock here, as it started as a Blizzcon skin before being briefly unlockable during Halloween all the way back in 2019. While a recolor has released since, the original remains extremely rare, as players haven’t been able to easily acquire it for over 7 years.

These are just some of the three dozen skins offered in the event, with Redditor Legitimate_Pop5682 detailing how the event works for curious players outside of China. Rather shockingly, half of these rare skins can be obtained completely free of charge. Players have to play as each “Black Claw” (Talon) hero to complete character-specific challenges, earning a free skin of their choosing if they do them all. Each day they log in, they get an additional free skin claim. Not only are Chinese players getting access to skins other fans desperately wish would come back, but they’re getting them for free via this event, which is supposedly easy to complete.

Overwatch 2’s Region-Exclusive Events Are a Slippery Slope

Image via Blizzard

While Overwatch 2’s region-exclusive events have been focused on China so far, perhaps that won’t always be the case. The Overwatch 2 hero roster is packed with characters from all over the world, so there’s room for things to spiral and lead to a UK-exclusive Tracer event, Japan-only Kiriko event, D.Va-centered Korea event, and so on. That hopefully won’t happen, as it would only make the FOMO feeling worse, but it certainly doesn’t seem like an impossibility. As other regions complain about not getting these region-exclusive events, perhaps Blizzard will see the ideal fix as introducing region-exclusive events for other countries instead of putting a stop to them completely.

Giving Chinese players catch-up events that only provide them with loot boxes would make sense, but letting them get special cosmetics that players in other regions have lost access to feels like a step too far — especially when considering how Chinese fans are getting said cosmetics for free. Players would love another chance just to buy Thunder Doomfist again, so seeing him offered for free to a certain group of players as a make-up gift (after they have already had other, similar events) is understandably frustrating for some gamers. Hopefully, Blizzard hears these complaints, making a version of the Talon event available in other regions soon. It’s hard to imagine it being as generous as the Chinese version is, but it would still go a long way to making players feel like they’re not missing out, as gamers currently feel like there’s too much favoritism going on.

Released

August 10, 2023

ESRB

T For Teen // Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco, Violence