Guild Wars 2 and Overwatch 2 Offer Compensation to Players for Recent Technical and Sales Errors

Let’s discuss how two MMO studios effectively managed recent disasters. It’s a great end to the week!

Firstly, ArenaNet declared last evening that it plans to compensate Guild Wars 2 players affected by a Steam glitch that mistakenly classified their premium accounts as free ones. The problem lasted just 10 hours before ArenaNet fully resolved it; all accounts are now fully restored with nothing missing. As an apology, the studio has given a generous bounty of gems to the affected players.

“We’re aware how alarming and upsetting this situation might have been for those impacted, and we’re profoundly sorry. In appreciation of your understanding, we’re rewarding 800 gems to each affected account. No action is required on your part; your gems will automatically be credited to your account later today and will be available for use on your next login.”

That number of gems is equivalent to about $10 plus tax, rather impressive indeed.

On the other hand, Blizzard came under fire when Overwatch 2 started offering a new “Cyber DJ” skin for the hero Lucio, only to announce shortly after that the same skin could be acquired for free via Twitch drops. We suspect it was a case of miscommunication among different teams rather than Blizzard deliberately attempting to deceive Lucio fans, but understandably, those who had bought the skin felt disgruntled. As a result, Blizzard is issuing refunds to everyone.

“We’ve refunded all who purchased this skin. We will also be adding a new skin, the Flirty Flare Baptiste, along with the Cyber DJ Lucio as exclusive rewards for the Overwatch Spotlight. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate our community for bringing this to our attention.”

We always anticipate ArenaNet to take the right course of action, but the gesture of 800 gems felt quite generous. It was especially pleasing to see Blizzard take responsible action for Overwatch 2 players after they spectacularly let down World of Warcraft users affected by the data loss incident in the past fall – a dire situation that sparked a comprehensive conversation about recompense in MMO and multiplayer industry.