Blizzard Entertainment has announced that the heroes in Overwatch 2 will no longer be locked behind the Battle Pass.

This is one of the changes coming to Overwatch 2, as revealed during a recent developer update by Game Director Aaron Keller.

When talking about hero releases, Kellen said that he wants all the players to have the opportunity to play the new hero Venture as soon as they are released.

“Heroes are one of the most exciting additions to the game, and we want all of our players to have immediate access to them when they launch,” said Kellen. “Which is why I am thrilled to share that Venture and all future heroes will be free for all players when they launch.”

He also states that starting from Venture, all future heroes will no longer be unlocked through the battle pass, and this includes all previous Overwatch 2 heroes.

Aside from the update on hero releases, Kellen also shared some insights on other features that they are testing for the Season 10 update.

For one, they are introducing a new way to unlock Mythic skins through the Mythic Shop. With this, players can unlock past Mythic skin that they might have missed in previous seasons.

Furthermore, the development team is also looking to add new maps into the game, such as their next Push Map Runasapi, a map set in Peru that will give us more hints of lore about the solar warriors, as well as Illari.

A new game mode Clash will also be coming, with a limited-time trial for the mode coming to the new Hanaoka map at the start of Season 10. Furthermore, more updates are also promised for the existing maps.

In a past interview, Aaron Keller did already expressed that they want players to have access to as many heroes over time just by playing Overwatch 2.

With this update, they surely have made a huge step towards that goal, and players who are frustrated with the Battle Pass gatekeep will be delighted to hear the news.

Heroes being locked behind Battle Pass is one of the major changes that were made to the game when transitioning from the original to Overwatch 2, which sparked a huge controversy among the players as the characters used to be free and immediately accessible.

While all the heroes are still unlockable even after the Battle Pass is over just by playing the game, many players still expressed that it took way too long to unlock the characters.