World

US announces new $725m military assistance package for Ukraine | Russia-Ukraine war News

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The new aid is aimed at restocking ammunition for advanced weapons systems used in Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

The United States will send Ukraine an additional $725m package of weapons and other military assistance, the White House has said, as Washington added to a flurry of aid announcements from European allies this week amid Russia’s renewed missile attacks on Kyiv and other targets.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Friday that the aid follows “in the wake of Russia’s brutal missile attacks on civilians across Ukraine”, and “the mounting evidence of atrocities by Russia’s forces”.

As Ukrainian “defenders push back Russia’s forces”, the US stands united with Ukraine, Blinken said later in a tweet.

Washington’s newest military package includes more ammunition for HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) and brings the total US military assistance to Ukraine to $18.3bn since the start of Joe Biden’s administration, the Department of Defence said in a separate statement.

The US has sent 20 HIMARS to Ukraine and has promised 18 more that would be delivered in the coming years. HIMARS have proven to be a critical weapon that has improved Ukraine’s ability to strike ammunition depots, bridges and other key targets that erode Russia’s ability to resupply troops.

 

Officials said the new US package is largely aimed at restocking thousands of rounds of ammunition for the weapons systems Ukraine has been successfully using in its counteroffensive against Russia, as the war stretches into its eighth month.

Ukraine’s immediate needs continue to be additional air defences, the Department of Defense said in a statement.

“The Russians have launched hundreds of rockets at the major Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian forces have had some success at shooting down the missiles, but they need more air defence capabilities,” the statement said.

A senior defence official told reporters at the Pentagon that Russia had fired more than 80 missiles at Ukrainian targets during one recent 24-hour period and that Ukrainian air defences were able to intercept about half of them.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the US assessment of the war, said that the intercepts use a lot of ammunition because it is likely Ukrainians fired more than one round at each incoming missile.

The US aid announcement caps a string of commitments from allies this week.

The United Kingdom said last week it would provide missiles for the advanced NASAM (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine. The UK also is sending hundreds of drones and 18 howitzer artillery guns.

Germany has sent the first of four promised IRIS-T air defence systems; France pledged more artillery, anti-aircraft systems and missiles; the Netherlands said it would send missiles and Canada is planning to send winter equipment, drone cameras and satellite communications.

The commitments come as Russia has intensified its attacks, hitting the Kyiv region with kamikaze drones and firing missiles elsewhere at civilian targets, including a hospital, a kindergarten and other buildings in the town of Nikopol, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.

The attacks have been described as Russian revenge for the bombing of the strategic Kerch Bridge linking Russia with annexed Crimea. Kremlin war hawks have urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to escalate the bombing campaign even more to punish Ukraine for the recent truck bomb attack on the bridge.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

Russia’s surge in missile strikes also represents an urgent effort by Moscow to regain its footing as Ukraine’s fierce counteroffensive has taken back towns and territory Russia had overrun in the earlier days of the war.



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Business

Rupert Murdoch considering merging Fox and News Corp once again | Rupert Murdoch

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The two parts of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire are discussing a merger nearly a decade after they split.

The merger would combine Murdoch’s Fox News and TMZ assets with News Corp’s newspaper and online news operations, including the Times and the Sun in the UK, the Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the US, and the Australian.

In a press release, News Corp confirmed that following instructions from Murdoch and the Murdoch Family Trust, the companies have formed a special committee “composed of independent and disinterested members of the board” to begin exploring a potential combination.

The Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the News Corp chief executive, Robert Thomson, had informed staff about the potential merger.

“At News Corp, we are constantly pursuing ways to enhance our performance and expand our businesses, and the upheaval in media presents both challenges and opportunities,” he wrote in a memo. “However, I would like to stress that the Special Committee has not made any determination at this time, and there can be no certainty that any transaction will result from its evaluation.”

After years of expansion globally, Murdoch split his empire in 2013, placing the print business in a newly created public entity, News Corp, and the TV and entertainment under 21st Century Fox.

Murdoch said at the time that his vast media holdings had become “increasingly complex” and that a new structure would simplify operations. The split also shielded Fox’s entertainment assets from any potential financial fallout from a phone hacking scandal involving the media conglomerate’s now-defunct News of the World publication in the United Kingdom.

The thinking at the time was that separating the companies ultimately would generate value for shareholders, according to one person familiar with the decision-making. That vision was realized as Fox sold the bulk of its film and television assets to Walt Disney for $71bn in 2019.

The sale left Fox focused on live events such as news and sports, rather than “disruptable” scripted entertainment content on the streaming platforms, Wall Street analysts observed at the time.

The major streaming services, however, have begun breaching the protective moat. Apple and Amazon, two technology giants with deep financial resources, have begun bidding for sports, securing rights to stream Major League Baseball, soccer and football games.

Fox recently renewed a long-term deal with the NFL to continue broadcasting Sunday afternoon games, but relinquished Thursday Night Football to Amazon.

Reuniting Fox and News Corp would give the combined companies greater scale to compete, and complement their assets, the person familiar with the proposal said. The combined companies would have about $24bn in revenue.

Murdoch, 91, currently has near-controlling stakes in both the companies. His son Lachlan Murdoch is chairman and CEO of Fox Corp. Companies that adopt such arrangements typically make subsequent mergers subject to approval by a majority of shareholders not affiliated with their controlling shareholder, though it’s not clear whether this will be the case in this instance.

As of market-close on Friday, News Corp had a market cap of $9.31bn and Fox Corp was $16.84bn. News Corp shares surged 5% and Fox rose about 1% in after-market trade.

Reuters contributed to this story

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US

Biden takes aim at Big Pharma, Republicans in California

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IRVINE, Calif., Oct 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden criticized Republicans and drug companies during a stop at a California community college on Friday as he campaigned for fellow Democrats in November’s midterm elections.

Biden’s trip includes stops in California on Friday and Oregon on Saturday as the president looks to position his party, the Democrats, as a champion of consumers and lower healthcare costs at a time that inflation ranks among voters’ top concerns. The midterm elections are on Nov. 8.

“We took on Big Pharma and we beat them, finally,” Biden said, referring to the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act’s provisions allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, caps the cost senior citizens are charged for prescriptions and lowers insulin prescriptions to $35 for Medicare beneficiaries.

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Biden promised to cap the insulin price at $35 for all Americans if Democrats keep the House and Senate. Most forecasts show Democrats with a slight advantage in the Senate and Republicans with a larger advantage in the House.

He claimed that Republicans will repeal the prescription drug price caps and take away Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices if they take control.

Biden’s motorcade was greeted in Irvine by more than 1,000 raucous protesters calling for Democracy in Iran, where anti-government demonstrations have raged for several weeks.

The president made reference to the protests in his remarks, saying that the United States stood with the Iranian people.

“He was moved by the protests that he saw from … Iranian Americans who were there,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said later. “It struck him and he wanted to comment about that at the top.”

The president was introduced by Democratic Representative Katie Porter, who has grilled bank and drug company executives on their profits in widely viewed Congressional hearings.

“Here’s the stone cold truth. Corporate greed worsens health outcomes, rips off taxpayers and threatens our capitalist economy,” Porter said, accusing the pharmaceutical industry of crushing competition and price transparency.

Biden signed an order Friday requiring the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to outline within 90 days how it will use new models of care and payment to cut drug costs.

Data on Thursday showed U.S. consumer prices jumped 8.2% in the 12 months through September, after peaking above 9% in the summer and growing at their fastest pace since 1981. Healthcare costs were partly to blame in the most recent month, along with food and rent.

HHS was given the power to promote new approaches to lowering costs and widening care through an Innovation Center, created by a 2010 healthcare reform law known as Obamacare and housed at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Some 65 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare programs, which have repeatedly come under fire for its cost to taxpayers.

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Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Heather Timmons, David Gregorio & Shri Navaratnam

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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US

Proud Boys leader from New Jersey pleads guilty in Capitol riot

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A man identified by authorities as a local leader of the Proud Boys extremist group in New Jersey pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, acknowledging in court that he shouted, “It’s go time, guys,” and, “Let’s go … let’s go,” as he and other rioters stormed into the building.

Shawn Price, now 28, who video recorded himself and others that afternoon, reveled in the mayhem as a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump violently breached the Capitol security lines while Congress was meeting to confirm the 2020 presidential election result, according to a statement of offense filed by prosecutors in U.S. District Court in Washington. In entering his plea, Price agreed that the statement was accurate.

“You … cowards,” he yelled along with profanity at officers who were using chemical irritants to try to stem the tide of rioters. In video clips that he later posted on Facebook, Price said: “They thought we couldn’t do it. They wanted to hold us back. Now look at this. … More tear gas. Going in the building. We’re going anyway.”

Price, of Rockaway Township, N.J., 25 miles northwest of Newark, was arrested in June 2021 and initially charged with six federal crimes. In March this year, he was charged in an indictment with three offenses. In return for pleading guilty to interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder — punishable by up to five years in prison — the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. agreed to move for dismissal of the remaining charges, both related to entering a restricted building.

Judge Carl J. Nichols scheduled sentencing for Feb. 9.

During the first presidential debate Sept. 29, President Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Here’s why they are defined as a hate group. (Video: Allie Caren/The Washington Post)

Prosecutors described Price as vice president of a local New Jersey chapter of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence. They said he traveled to Washington with 10 to 12 fellow chapter members and was among four or five who illegally entered the restricted area of the Capitol grounds.

“Price filmed the scene of a confrontation with law enforcement officers taking place on the Lower West Terrace, using profanities as he screamed at the officers,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

Price’s attorney, Harley D. Breite, said his client has recently worked in construction.

“He’s a hard-working young man,” Breite said in an interview after the plea hearing. “He’s a charitable young man. … He supports his mother. He’s expecting to become a father for the first time. He’s a young man who understands he made a mistake. And most importantly, he understands why he’ll never make it again.”

The government described him as determined to breach the Capitol and disrupt the congressional proceedings.

“While directly in front of the line of law enforcement officers that was blocking the entrance to the northern stairs of the west terrace of the U.S. Capitol building — the line of officers that was breached later that afternoon — Price said: ‘I didn’t get this far (inaudible). … Let’s go! Traitors. Traitors,’” according to the statement of offense.

“At some point while on the [Capitol’s] lower west terrace, Price put on a pair of goggles,” the statement says. About 1:45 p.m., he and other Proud Boys members “pushed with a group of individuals into a line of law enforcement officers that was attempting to restrain the crowd and to hold crowd-control barriers in place. The group that Price pushed with included individuals who grabbed and pushed into the crowd-control barriers.”

Price later said in a Facebook message: “ … me and 4 of my chapter brothers pushed that line and started it ourselves had to be done.” He added: “I led the storm … getting tear gassed pepper sprayed and shot with rubber bullets. … We did it bro. … Me and 3 others stormed it and no one else would until we started then everyone stormed.”

In what authorities have described as the most sprawling investigation in the Justice Department’s history, more than 880 people from across the country have been arrested in connection with the Capitol riot, the U.S. attorney’s office said. More than 270 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers.

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Technology

The Pixel Watch doesn’t support wireless charging, despite it showing otherwise

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What you need to know

  • The Pixel Watch has been found charging wirelessly on some occasions, although the experience is not consistent.
  • While many instances proved it to be working, Google has confirmed it doesn’t officially support Qi wireless charging.
  • Users will have to stick with the proprietary charger that comes with the Pixel Watch.

Google’s Pixel Watch started getting shipped to consumers who preordered it during the launch. People who got their hands on it began to test the Pixel Watch’s ability to charge wirelessly on the Pixel and on other phones with reverse wireless charging enabled, which seemed to have worked for a few.

According to The Verge, some Redditors tested on a power bank that supports Qi-compatible wireless charging, and the experience caused a lot of dismay among users. That’s because the experience has been hit or miss, and Pixel Watch apparently doesn’t support Qi.

Victoria Song, the wearable tech reviewer at The Verge, has also tried the same with her Pixel Watch, accompanied by the Pixel 7 Pro. She used the battery-sharing feature on her Android device and placed the Pixel Watch on the back for a charge. Apparently, it only worked for ten seconds.

Song mentions the Pixel Watch shows that the device is charging, but the connection and charge stability doesn’t appear consistent. The result appeared the same with a third-party Belkin charging dock as well.

Nils Ahrensmeier also tried it and snapped a picture to show the device charging wirelessly on their phone.

See more

A similar instance with the Pixel Watch has also been experienced with the folks at 9to5Google. Even though the Pixel Watch does display that it’s charging when placed on Qi-compatible charging pads and devices with reverse wireless charging, 9to5 concludes that the watch is actually discharging.

After this, Google provided a statement to 9to5Google, confirming the Pixel Watch doesn’t officially support Qi wireless charging:

The statement provided to 9to5 reads, “Qi charging is not supported on the Google Pixel Watch. There may be some charging configurations where reverse wireless or Qi charging appears to work. This will be very device and charger specific and is not guaranteed to provide a consistent, steady, or strong charge. Note that in some cases, this could cause the device to discharge while on charger. Pixel Watch only supports charging with the inbox charger provided.”

This also reminds us of another recent experience with the Pixel 6a, which shipped with a 60Hz display. However, a developer created a new mod that unofficially enables the Pixel 6a to run at a 90Hz refresh rate since the device apparently sports a similar display panel to the Pixel 6.

Nevertheless, the charging situation with the Pixel Watch might look fascinating to many, but wireless charging is apparently not an ideal way to charge the watch, even if it appears you can. Android Central’s Andrew Myrick laments the omission of Qi wireless charging in his Pixel Watch review:

“What is a bit disappointing is that Google opted to use a proprietary wireless charger. It’s a drum that I’ll keep beating until it becomes the norm, but I really wish Google would’ve opted for standard Qi wireless charging.“

Unfortunately, we must continue relying on proprietary chargers for smartwatches and other wearables until we can figure out some standard for these devices.

Pixel Watch is the first smartwatch from Google that features incredible hardware. It ships with Wear OS 3.5 out of the box and includes Fitbit integration for the first time



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Entertainment

Megan Thee Stallion Says She’s ‘Gotta Take a Break’ After Her Home Is Broken Into: ‘I’m So Tired’

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Megan Thee Stallion – Credit: Sacha Lecca for Rolling Stone

Hotties need time off, too. Megan Thee Stallion is poised to experience a career highlight this weekend when she hosts (and performs on) Saturday Night Live, but she’s also dealing with some major material losses after her house was broken into Thursday night.

On Friday, following a TMZ report that more than $300,000 worth of property was stolen from her Los Angeles home while she’s in New York City, Megan addressed the break-in and announced that she’s “really gotta take a break.”

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“Material things can be replaced but I’m glad everyone is safe 💙🙏🏾,” she wrote, later adding, “Hotties I’m really sorry but after SNL I really gotta take a break I’m so tired, physically and emotionally.”

According to TMZ, two men broke into her home Thursday night and raided her bedroom, taking thousands of dollars worth of her property. Police have yet to make any arrests, but there is video footage of the incident, per the outlet. Megan has been in New York over the last several days to prepare for her appearance at SNL.

It’s been a busy year for the rapper. After appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone this summer, she’s headlined music festivals, started a mental health resource website, twerked with a Halo character, and has undergone an inevitably grueling legal proceeding after accusing Tory Lanez of shooting her in 2020.

She also released her album Traumazine, which featured songs such as “Budget” with Latto, “Scary” with Rico Nasty, and “Consistency” with Jhené Aiko, in mid-August.

But she’s also been candid that, at times, it’s been a struggle. As she told Rolling Stone earlier this year, “I’m trying every day to get through it and be good. I feel so bad because I don’t feel like anybody’s taking me seriously, but I don’t want them to see me cry. I don’t want them to know that I feel like this, because I don’t want them to feel like, ‘Oh, I got you. I’m breaking you.’”

Despite the break-in and her clear exhaustion, Megan has been in celebration mode after she was nominated for favorite female hip-hop artist of the years for the American Music Awards, and shared that she was “excited AF” to participate on SNL this weekend.

“When I see Thee Hotties care about my mental health, they’ll be like, ‘OK, girl, you don’t want to get online. That’s fine. Oh, Megan, I’m just sending you love and support today,’” she told Rolling Stone in her cover story interview. “I’m like, ‘Y’all know my spirit!’”

Best of Rolling Stone

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Technology

2021 BMW M2 vs. 2023 BMW M2: M Car Showdown

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The new 2023 BMW M2 promises to be a handful, but it has some big shoes to fill. The 2021 BMW M2 Competition built on years of development since 2016, resulting in a handsome, fast, and, most importantly, fun car. So how does the beloved 2021 BMW M2 stack up against the redesigned newcomer 2023 BMW M2?

2023 BMW M2 | BMW

How much horsepower does the 2021 BMW M2 have?

The 2021 BMW M2 Competition produces 405 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque. That’s a far cry from the 2016 M2’s N55-derived inline-six and its 365 horsepower. However, it’s enough to send the baby Bimmer sliding around corners in a cloud of tire smoke. Unsurprisingly, though, the newest addition to the M2 family is the most powerful one yet. 

The 2023 BMW M2 produces 453 horsepower from its S58 mill, a twin-turbocharged 3.0L inline six-cylinder engine. Moreover, the new car makes the same 406 lb-ft of torque as the older M2. Better yet, both the 2021 and 2023 cars channel their ponies with a six-speed manual transmission or an optional automatic. However, the new vehicle ditches the seven-speed dual-clutch in favor of an eight-speed unit.   

BMW M2 | Todd Korol, Toronto Star via Getty Images

Is the 2021 BMW M2 fast?

Surprisingly, BMW says that the new 2023 M2 is quite similar in a straight line to the 2021 BMW M2 Competition. Car and Driver says the 2021 BMW M2 Competition with a manual transmission hit 60 mph in just 3.9 seconds, and the automatic version will do it in 4.1. Conversely, BMW says the new 2023 coupe will hit 60 mph in 3.9 seconds with the eight-speed automatic and 4.0 seconds with the manual. 

Despite the difference in power, the cars are very similar contenders. Of course, BMW hasn’t announced a CS or Competition version of the 2023 M2. 

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How much is the new 2023 M2?

The upcoming 2023 M2 starts at $63,195, which seems like a tough sell for the little M car. However, the M3, the next M in the lineup, starts quite a bit higher at $73,795. Still, the newer, wider, heavier M2 costs more than the car it replaces. Specifically, the 2021 BMW M2 Competition started at around $59,895. 

Unfortunately, if you want an older baby Bimmer instead of the new one, you might not save any money. Kelley Blue Book (KBB) says the average used purchase price for a 2021 M2 is around $62,208. That’s not surprising, though; M cars tend to be more collectible and sought after than non-M vehicles.   

Should you buy a 2021 BMW M2 or wait for a 2023 M2?

While the cars share a nameplate, they’re different on the inside and out. If you want a newer, more powerful, if also more garishly styled M2, buy the new car in the Spring of next year. However, you can’t go wrong with the older M car if you want a similarly fast M car with more sedate looks. One thing is sure: they’re both more pleasing to the eye than some of the modern kidney grille controversy cars. 

Scroll down to the following article to read more about sports coupes like the M2!

RELATED: 5 New BMW M2 Alternatives for Under $55,000

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Health

BQ.1 COVID-19 variant becomes increasingly prevalent in US infections: CDC

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A new subvariant of the omicron variant of the coronavirus is becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

CDC data shows that the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants each made up 5.7 percent of the total number of cases in the country in the past week. The BA.5 subvariant, which has dominated the cases in the U.S. for months, made up 67.9 percent, down from its peak in late August when it made up almost 90 percent of all cases in the country. 

The BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants have increasingly spread in recent weeks, only trailing the BA.5 and BA.4.6 subvariants in making up the most cases. 

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and President Biden’s chief medical adviser, told CBS News in an interview that people need to “keep our eye out” for emerging variants despite cases and hospitalizations being down. 

“When you get variants like that, you look at what their rate of increase is as a relative proportion of the variants, and this has a pretty troublesome doubling time,” he said. 

Fauci said he is worried that subsequent variants may be more effective at evading medications that scientists have developed to help patients manage the virus. 

“That’s the reason why people are concerned about BQ.1.1, for the double reason of its doubling time and the fact that it seems to elude important monoclonal antibodies,” he said. 

Cases and hospitalizations have dropped since July, and deaths have been decreasing since August. But health officials have warned the public to expect an increase in cases as the winter approaches. 

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized an updated booster dose of Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines to address the omicron subvariants. The booster is a bivalent vaccine, meaning it contains the mRNA vaccine for the original strain of the coronavirus and the vaccine for another strain. 

This booster is targeting the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

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US

Student loan forgiveness applications now open through beta mode website, Biden administration says

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CNN
 — 

The Biden administration has opened the application process for Americans seeking student debt relief in a beta period starting Friday evening, officials told CNN, allowing applicants to begin signing up before the website is formally unveiled later this month.

In August, President Joe Biden announced his decision to cancel up to $10,000 in student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year or as much as $20,000 for eligible borrowers who were also Pell Grant recipients.

“Tonight, the Department of Education will begin beta testing the student debt relief website. During the beta testing period, borrowers will be able to submit applications for the Biden-Harris Administration’s student debt relief program,” a spokesperson for the Department of Education told CNN exclusively Friday.

The website is available at: https://studentaid.gov/debt-relief/application.

Anyone who applies for the debt relief in the beta period will receive a confirmation email, but their application will not be processed until the site formally launches, expected at a to-be-announced date before the end of October. Once processing begins, most qualifying borrowers are expected to receive debt relief within weeks.

The spokesperson continued, “Those borrowers will not need to reapply if they submit their application during the beta test, but no applications will be processed until the site officially launches later this month. This testing period will allow the Department to monitor site performance through real-world use, test the site ahead of the official application launch, refine processes, and uncover any possible bugs prior to official launch.”

The Department of Education’s technical team will be looking at site performance in real time and the beta version of the website will have scheduled pauses as the team assesses what refinements and tweaks are needed, an administration official told CNN in a phone interview, another official adding that “high spikes of demand” are expected. Anyone who is trying to submit their application during a beta pause will be encouraged to check back.

While there won’t be any changes made to the application itself, there could be changes to the website software as the tech team tracks how it’s working in the beta mode.

The form to apply will include information on the debt relief, who qualifies for it and how it works. It will ask applicants for information including their full names, Social Security number, date of birth, phone number and an email address.

Potential applicants who previously signed up for updates on the student debt relief process will receive an email notifying them about the beta website, and once the website is formally launched, the White House will begin to leverage its social channels to spread the word. There are also plans to brief digital creators and influencers in the coming weeks, officials said.

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Technology

Overwatch 2 fans aren’t happy with the game’s store and cosmetics

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Overwatch 2 has had its share of high-profile stumbles in its launch week, but now that players are finally getting into the game, many aren’t pleased with what they’re seeing. Players continue to take umbrage with the game’s cosmetics, particularly how expensive they are and what they’re getting for the price.

Among the largest changes Blizzard made with Overwatch 2 is adapting the game to a free-to-play model. While this is an expected change — and a frequently requested one — Blizzard is relatively new to the rotating store and battle pass models that it’s adopted for Overwatch 2. Some growing pains were inevitable, both for Blizzard and its audience, and players are certainly making those pains known.

After the game’s weekly store reset for the first time on Tuesday, players quickly grew frustrated at seeing the prices Blizzard was asking for some of Overwatch 2’s less-inventive skins. One skin is (slightly uncharitably) basically just “Baptiste but blue,” and it costs 1,000 coins (equivalent to about $10). For players who don’t want to pay, earning a maximum of 60 Overwatch Coins per week through a series of challenges means it would take at least 17 weeks to unlock that particular cosmetic.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment via Polygon

While these are the kind of skins that the original game’s loot boxes thrived on, seeing prices that can be translated into real-dollar amounts (or a monthslong grind) now gives players whiplash. What’s more, a “bad” skin rotating into the shop will always be a source of frustration for players, which is why some games opt to put rarer and more high quality skins on a weekly rotation, while the more basic and cheaper skins come in and out daily. Meanwhile other games, like League of Legends, make almost every skin purchasable all the time.

Skin quality is also a problem that Blizzard will likely feel more acutely now that Overwatch is a free-to-play franchise. This isn’t to say that Overwatch 2’s skins are bad, but rather that it’s not a game built around showing players how cool the skin they own actually is. While other cosmetic-focused games like League, Dota 2, or Fortnite are third-person, Overwatch 2’s first-person gameplay is fundamentally in opposition with the whole idea of showing off your flashy skin. Other players can enjoy it, and it might even make them want to buy it, but what does the player who already spent money get out of that?

This is a similar problem for other FPS games like Valorant or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but those games get around it by making the guns that players hold the stars of the show. The downside for Valorant players is that its weapon skins are on the more expensive side of the F2P scale, but they’re also enormously detailed and get used many times throughout each match.

Image: Blizzard Entertainment via Polygon

These weapons can also be picked up by both enemies and allies, which still accomplishes the eternal developer goal of making cosmetics their own best advertisement, without including extra content that the purchasing player won’t get to enjoy. Meanwhile, Overwatch 2’s character skins are easy for opponents and teammates to see the details on, but the weapons, the things players can see constantly, aren’t often the coolest part of the skins.

None of this is to say that Overwatch 2’s skins and store are doomed to carry only expensive, unsatisfying skins. The system is likely to get dozens of tweaks and quiet under-the-hood adjustments as Blizzard reacts to criticism from fans, including creating cosmetics that emphasize different parts of the skin, including those that players can see a little more.

But until Blizzard is able to adjust its free-to-play microtransactions, it’s no surprise to see players express their frustration over yet another aspect of Overwatch 2.

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