Overwatch players have received a survey from Blizzard asking how much they’d be willing to pay for skins and other cosmetics in the upcoming free-to-play sequel.

Honestly, I’m not surprised, when a game is free-to-play, there’s always going to be a catch. But what’s surprising are the prices listed… Man does it throw you through a ringer.

According to a statement to PCGamesN from an Overwatch spokesperson, the prices listed in the survey were randomised, but players were dumbfounded by the suggested cost of “Mythic skins”.

We know that all cosmetics obtained in the original games will be carried over to Overwatch 2 but will drop randomized loot boxes for an in-game store and battle passes. Blizzard hasn’t officially announced how any of that will work, except that new cosmetics will be available, including weapon charms, banner emotes, and customizable Mythic skins.

Mythic skins will allow you to customise individual parts of a hero’s skin. Back in June, Blizzard unveiled concept art of a Mythic skin that will be available for Genji and stated that you can change the colours of his armour, eye glow, mask, tattoo, and weapons. Essentially things about a hero you can’t change right now.

According to figures suggested in the recent survey, Mythic skins could cost as much as US$44.99 or as little as US$29.99.

chaosunleashedX on Reddit and Portergauge on Twitter posted screenshots of their surveys, which asked how they would feel about US$24.99 Legendary skins and US$9.99 weapon charms. The surveys also gave them options to choose what kind of cosmetic bundles they would pay for at US$4.99, US$19.99, and US$29.99.

Oof, friend of mine got an Overwatch survey for his account, some of these prices they're gauging for OW2 are really expensive.

I hope this is just him getting one of the higher price surveys and not an indication that they're leaning towards this much monetization. pic.twitter.com/RWr7LbwkLB

— Portergauge ???? (@Portergauge) July 30, 2022

On the backend of the Diablo Immortal debacle, the reaction to the prices was received negatively.

In the past, Overwatch sold the Pink Mercy skin for US$15, but 100% of that money went directly to charity, and it frequently sells skins tied to Overwatch League tokens (which you can get for free by watching matches) for about US$10.

Legendary Apex Legends skins cost about US$18 and Valorant weapon skins can range from US$10 to US$100. If Blizzard were to price skins this way, it would be a pretty big shift to how it’s handled Overwatch’s skins in the past, and would more closely resemble other popular FPS games at the moment.

Blizzard plans to steadily release new heroes with each nine-week season. People who feel the need to collect everything will get hit the hardest if there’s no way to earn these skins by playing the game normally.

Blizzard is clearly interested in how people react to these prices; surveys like this get shared all of the time and don’t by any means guarantee we’re going to see US$44.99 (or even US$29.99) Mythic skins. Given the backlash over Diablo Immortal’s gacha-like monetization, the reaction to the skin prices might convince Blizzard to keep prices lower.

Blizzard said it will go into specific details about its battle pass and shop plans closer to Overwatch 2’s 4 October launch date.