'Overwatch' news, updates: Blizzard now allows sending loot boxes to friends

Promotional image for Blizzard's role-playing game "Overwatch," featuring the roster of playable heroesFacebook/PlayOverwatch

Blizzard Entertainment has a perfect offering for players this coming Christmas. As the forthcoming holiday is a season of giving, the game studio is now allowing players to send loot boxes as gifts to their friends in "Overwatch."

As reported by Express, sending out loot boxes to fellow "Overwatch" players is a part of Blizzard's new gift-giving function. This new social interaction in the game is just one of the many surprises from the all-new Blizzard Battle.net app. Players can access the function to give loot boxes by clicking on Blizzard's new social tab, located beside the games tab in the application.

With the new social interaction implemented by Blizzard, players are now able to send loot boxes after buying them from the online store or picking them up after a battle. Players only have to choose the name of the recipient from the drop-down menu. The friend who is indicated by the player as the recipient can claim their gift right after the loot box is sent.

According to Blizzard, the upper right hand corner of the Battle.net app will light up, informing the player that one of his friends just sent a gift item. Players can also select the View Gifts option under the BattleTag to make sure that the loot boxes are successfully sent.

Furthermore, "Overwatch" players can easily give gifts by checking the Shop tab of the Battle.net app and select the items with the gift-enabled icon, which indicates whether the item can be sent over to other players. All the new social features are now available, which can be accessed once the Battle.net app is updated.

In other news, the "Overwatch" loot box system has offered more ways for players to make their characters more powerful and appealing. However, PCGamesN stated that the system has become more money-based, thus introducing an unfair standing between players willing to use actual money and those who only get their items through active playing.