Blizzard Entertainment dropped a metric ton of new announcements for Overwatch, including a seasonal revamp with year-long stories and ten new heroes. Five of them will become available later this week, but above all else, the return to Overwatch, removing the “2” that many fans railed against for so long, has been met with optimism.
However, given the amount of time and marketing that went into the name change, you have to wonder if this isn’t the development team admitting to failure. Far from it, at least according to live service head Walter Kong during a press conference that Eurogamer attended.
“What would I change if we could go back? Probably not call it Overwatch 2. But when I look back at that period, I do think that it was a positive period for us, because we made an important transition. We made a transition to an ongoing live game, and that wasn’t easy. It was really, really hard.
“It was a necessary period of challenge that we had to get through to get to where we are today. I don’t think we could jump straight here. Just thinking back to what we experienced during those years makes me feel a bit exhausted, but it is what’s allowed us to take Overwatch into the future.”
For game director Aaron Keller, it’s a promise to players that Overwatch begins and ends with the current title, calling it a “forever game.” “From our players’ point of view, they’ll tell us, ‘Hey, Overwatch is in the best state it’s ever been in.’ And a lot of times we even hear like, ‘Overwatch has finally earned the two.’ So I don’t think this is us trying to admit there was a failure here, especially when we start hearing from the community that we’ve earned it.
“But for us, what this is saying is that because Overwatch is this forever game, we don’t want our players worrying about when it’s going to get replaced by Overwatch 3.”
Of course, never say never about a three-quel – even Keller admitted that, “Never is a big word to say.” However, the “intention is to continue supporting this game, this competitive hero-based, team-based shooter, for as far into the future as our players will continue playing.”
Overwatch’s Reign of Talon: Season 1 begins on February 10th. Alongside the new heroes, new Mythic Skins for Mei and Mercy will arrive. Stadium is being updated with a Hero Builder for more seamless customization among new players, and the menus are receiving a significant overhaul.
Each new season going forward will add a new hero and several new core maps. If that wasn’t enough, the hero shooter is also coming to Nintendo Switch 2 this Spring.
