Overwatch

Moderate overall intensity

Highest flag: Gambling — real-money gambling

🏆 The Game Awards 2016 — Best Esports Game🏆 The Game Awards 2016 — Game of the Year

What's in it

Gambling real-money gambling

High

Loot boxes open with a spinning reveal into randomized cosmetics such as skins, sprays and voice lines. They are earned through weekly and event challenges and the battle pass tracks; there is no button to buy one with real money or in-game currency, and nothing inside can be cashed out.

Spending loot boxes

Moderate

A battle pass system, seasonal passes, and cosmetic loot boxes sell randomized cosmetic items and emotes.

Spending pressure limited-time / daily-login pressure

Moderate

The free-to-play game sells optional real-money purchases through a rotating premium Battle Pass and a randomized loot-box system, both unlocking cosmetic items.

Violence cartoon/stylized

Low

Fast third-person action with players shooting and hitting each other as heroes and villains; no blood, gore, or realistic injury.

Language mild

Low

Occasional mild profanity in the form of 'hell' and 'sh*t' from characters.

Who can reach your kid

Voice chatChat with strangersDirect messagesUser-created contentStranger friend requestsOff-platform contactGifting / tradingReal-money spending

What it is

Overwatch is a team-based first- and third-person shooter set in a science fiction future, where players pick from a large cast of heroes and villains to fight objective-based matches. Gameplay is fast and stylized, with shooting, melee, and abilities rather than realistic injury. The game is free-to-play with optional real-money purchases: a rotating Battle Pass that unlocks cosmetic items and a loot-box system (called 'Hero Skins') that sells randomized cosmetic content. The game's online community is active, and many players use voice and text chat with strangers. The developer has acknowledged that fan-made pornography exists, though the game itself contains no sexual content or nudity.

How it's framed

The game frames its combat as a heroic team effort to protect a world from threats, with its heroes presented as role models and its villains as antagonists. Violence is directed at fictional characters in a stylized, arcade-style setting rather than at real people, and the story treats death as a narrative event rather than something depicted in graphic detail.

Details

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Released: Aug 10, 2023

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