The rare Pink Mercy skin is returning to Overwatch 2, along with a new Rose Gold version, and it is crashing the skin trading black market.
Overwatch developers released the Pink Mercy skin in 2018 in conjunction with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation to help raise money for the charity. Proceeds from each sale went directly to the foundation, resulting in $12.7M raised.
The cosmetic was only around for a limited time and has not been available for purchase since.
However, developers announced the return of the skin on June 13, revealing its price point of $15.
This has had a catastrophic impact on the skin trading black market, which sells accounts with the rare Mercy skin for hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on what else the account includes.
These websites auction Overwatch 2 and other popular game accounts that are high-rated, have rare or massive cosmetic collections, or both. One popular website even has a tab specifically for accounts up for sale with the Pink Mercy skin.
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Those who purchased an account with the skin, or have been holding onto an account in hopes of selling to the highest bidder, are not happy with the news.
Just two months ago, the cheapest account with the rare Mercy skin was priced at $224; now players can purchase one that costs $49. Both pale in comparison to the stated price from Blizzard.
There are still people auctioning off their accounts for thousands of dollars with the rare skin included, however, the prices should fall as the skin becomes available again on June 25.
That doesn’t mean the skin’s black market value won’t increase in the future if Blizzard decides to wait another six years to bring it back to the game’s shop.
However, users selling accounts on these marketplaces will have to hold onto the skin for a while before demand picks back up, as everyone who wants the skin will probably have it before it leaves the game in July.
