Overwatch 2 may have elicited some tears from me during its reveal trailer on Friday, and it may have also elicited some tears from me in the several times I’ve rewatched it since. But unfortunately, it sounds like that is going to have to last me for a bit, as Blizzard has confirmed it has no release window set for the sequel to give, and now that it’s dropped that bomb of unfortunate sadness the company will be going dark leading up to whenever it is ready to give another big news dump.
This news came from Game Director Jeff Kaplan while speaking on a Blizzcon panel called “Overwatch: What’s Next?” Near the end of the presentation Kaplan, along with confirming Overwatch 2 and all it entails would be coming to all the same platforms as the original game (including the recently released Switch version), revealed that Blizzard isn’t too concerned with when the game will launch, and is just focused on the quality of the final product at this point.
“The other big question is ‘well, when do we get it? What’s the date on this thing?’ I don’t know,” Kaplan said. “I have no idea. Just let us make it great. That’s what we care about more than anything. We don’t have a date in mind.”
Kaplan went on to say that between now and this eventual launch, Blizzard wants Overwatch 2’s development to be a more collaborative experience between the company and players. Usually this is (and probably still is) a big platitude to throw out to your fans, but considering a lot of Overwatch 2’s content is coming to and updating the original game, there’s a chance major feedback given about current problems could be implemented.
“Today is the most important day in Overwatch 2’s development because, I feel like, to this point it’s been just our ‘small team,’ and today is that we bring you, ‘the big team’ into it,” Kaplan said. “What do you want out of the game? You’re gonna play the demo, you’re gonna post feedback, you’re gonna talk to us here, today. We want to hear from you what needs to change, what features are we missing, what’s gonna be cool, what isn’t cool.”
And now that that’s all said and done, Kaplan said the team would be going dark for awhile. However, he did mention a few other features that would be coming in the next year to the base game, which will include new modes to play during role queue’s notoriously long wait times, as well as confirming there will be no Archives mission next year, which usually consists of a story scenario, as Blizzard is putting story resources into Overwatch 2’s dedicated mode.
By the time Blizzcon came around, it was a miracle Blizzard has anything surprising to show or announce, as several leaks came out beforehand, which were later given even more legitimacy by an ESPN report that came a week later.
In the meantime, fans are bunkering down for the sequel, which is set to bring new heroes, modes, and looks to several characters. But the big new feature is the story mode, which will have major ramifications for the way the community has operated up to this point.
