Blizzard confirms free heroes and maps in Overwatch after release

During Blizzard's annual BlizzCon event, it was confirmed that the first-person shooter Overwatch will not be free-to-play. The standard version of the game will release with 21 heroes and some maps, but they have plans to bring more heroes and maps in the future.

In a Developer Update, Game Director Jeff Kaplan addressed the "worry and concern" the community has over "what's going to happen to Overwatch post launch in terms of additional heroes and maps." Basically, the community has been worried that Overwatch will not only cost them money, but will cost them extra money for hero and map DLC.

This will not be the case for Overwatch.

While Blizzard is happy with the 21 heroes already available in Overwatch, they have ideas for additional maps and heroes that they want to bring to the game. The good news is that Blizzard has decided that free is best, when it comes to new content. "We decided the best way to add them to the game is to patch them in as free content and not DLC," said Kaplan.

Blizzard doesn't know how many heroes they will bring to the game, but they think it's "important" for players to know that when they patch a new hero into the game they want it to be free.

Kaplan revealed that new heroes and maps have been hinted at in current maps through easter eggs, but did not specify any further than that.