Overwatch 2fans who have held out hope that the game’s promised story content will someday materialize have once again been dealt a significant blow, as new reports state that the development team may be abandoning future PvE content altogether.
In the years leading up to the launch ofOverwatch 2, Blizzard Entertainment promised that the game would greatly expand on the universe’s lore and offer PvE content on a grander scale than anything seen inOverwatch 1. Now a year and a half after release, that promise has gone mostly unfulfilled.
Overwatch 2 Made a Promise It Wouldn’t Keep
Back at Blizzcon 2019, Blizzard dropped the firstOverwatch 2gameplay trailer, which showed that the game was going to put an increased emphasis on story-related content. These Story Missions and Hero Missions were pitched as being spiritual successors toOverwatch 1’s limited-time cooperative story missions. Not only would this increase the scope of the game’s story and PvE offerings, but it would help the sequel stand out on its own.Overwatch 2’s Hero Missions, in particular, promised a new PvE experience, adding the ability to level up individual characters with talent trees that would provide tweaks to existing abilities. Examples included, but are not limited to, a Reinhardt Earthshatter that had a 360 degree area of effect or a Genji Dragonblade that could fire a projectile with each swing of his sword.
The game eventually launched in October 2022 (with only PvP content), replacing the existingOverwatch 1game client. By May 2023,OverwatchDirector Aaron Keller had to announce that theOverwatchteam was no longer moving forward with its plans for Hero Missions. The game didn’t receive its first (and only) PvE content drop until August 2023, when three Story Missions were added as part of theOverwatch 2Invasion event. Since then, there has been little to no mention of future story missions from the development team, with no release date yet announced for another PvE content drop. This is a far cry from the game players thought they were getting, especially considering that the first half of the first gameplay trailer was dedicated entirely to showcasing PvE content.
Trailer vs. Reality
Now, anew report from Kotaku, featuring interviews with ex-developers from Blizzard’sOverwatchdevelopment team, states that the game’s already-scant PvE content may be cancelled altogether. In the report, the former developers detail a development cycle that was years into the process that was perpetually held up on two fronts. On the one hand, it seems that making the PvP-centric game work as a co-op experience was tougher than previously thought. “Overwatch’s PvP gameplay just turned out to be very difficult to adapt for PvE. Mostly because of how differentiated and PvP-oriented the hero kits are,” stated one source.
On the other hand, the rank-and-file developers were supposedly constantly haunted by the specter of “Blizzard Quality,” a term used to describe the seemingly-unachievable bar that the company’s higher-ups wanted all of the game’s content to reach. “[Blizzard Quality] is a justification to essentially piss about forever and ever redoing the same work over and over,” another source told Kotaku.
In retrospect, it seems that the writing was on the wall well before the game released, as stories reportingOverwatch 2launch delayspopped up a couple of times between its 2019 announcement and 2022 launch.
Story Missions Being Pushed to the Sidelines
Fans who weren’t followingOverwatch 2’s development would be forgiven for not knowing about the existence of the story missions at all. The game’s main menu is clearly intended to steer players toward its PvP modes, with the story missions relegated to a small text box on the side. Even the more recently introducedHero Mastery mode, which challenges players to complete intricate obstacle courses that are meant to test their character proficiency, has a much more visible slide in the user interface than the PvE content.
The Desire for More Overwatch Story Has Always Been There
Still, the overarchingOverwatchuniverse contains a story that many fans of the franchise would love to see expanded, of which PvP-only players may be unaware. Over the years, in addition to the occasional story mission, Blizzard has releasedOverwatchcomicsand cinematics that delve further into the background of the variousOverwatchheroes and villains that have garnered much attention. For example, fans may not find out what happened with Zen at the end of Invasion or what’s going on with Ramattra’s subjucators, especially not in the actual game. The cinematics in particular have been enjoyed by the community, with several of them raking in tens of millions of views over the years since their release, but that alone cannot carry the story.
These Story Missions and Hero Missions were pitched as being spiritual successors toOverwatch 1’s limited-time cooperative story missions. Not only would this increase the scope of the game’s story and PvE offerings, but it would help the sequel stand out on its own.
Clearly, the desire to learn more about the conflicts and characters ofOverwatchis there, which makes this most recent development on the PvE front all the more disappointing for fans of the franchise. Being able to peruse comic books detailing how Torbjorn first met the animal-loving Bastion or watch an impeccably-animated retelling ofthe history of the Shimada clanis very cool indeed, but there are many gamers who would much prefer to experience these plot beats in-game.
Unfortunately, it’s beginning to look less and less likely that will ever happen. This is truly a shame, as the universe ofOverwatchis ripe for the picking, but nailing that down in PvE content is constantly facing new obstacles.
Overwatch 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.
