Overwatch 2's director thinks running a shooter that isn't free-to-play would be "very, very difficult" in this era, but the business model is also changing how developers design games.
"There were free to play games before Overwatch launched," game director Aaron Keller recalls in an interview with GamesRadar+, "but that is a much bigger part of the market right now." He then says "to run a big shooter it'd be very, very difficult without making it free to play" as a full price tag is now a "huge barrier to entry for players." He's not entirely wrong, either. Convincing friends to team up and drop $60-70 on a game they've never played before, when there are countless ones available to try at no cost, is tough nowadays, and that's been proven by Concord's recent failure. Successes like Helldivers 2 or Lethal Company are seem few and far between and usually rely on some level of virality to give them a boost.
