Overwatch 2 is coming. I think.
Just like Mei says, maybe "You have to let it go" for Overwatch 2 (Image via Blizzard)
But I don’t want it to.
Overwatch 2 was announced for the first time at BlizzCon 2019. At that time, Blizzard stated that the Overwatch team would start focusing most of their attention on Overwatch 2, meaning new content in the original title would slow down. Which made sense at the time.
Over two years later, not as much.
Overwatch has been all but abandoned. No new heroes, no new events. All players really get is cosmetics and repeated events. If I have to see Lucio Ball one more time… Overwatch also recently added a satirical Experimental card with buffs and nerfs created by popular streamers that angered the community further. A lot of players accused Blizzard of favoring content creators over the majority of the community, opting to make fun updates instead of addressing ongoing issues within the game.
At this point, I’m just fed up. I don’t want Overwatch 2 to come out at all and just want the entire debacle to be over with. Here’s why.
1. I’m Not Impressed
Throughout 2020 and 2021, Blizzard hosted a variety of virtual panels about Overwatch 2 to show the community what is being worked on — and explain away why Overwatch wasn’t getting any attention from developers. The panels focused on new PvE opportunities, with each hero essentially having their own story mode. These modes would also feature new abilities and a skill tree of sorts.
Blizzard also discussed new maps and new competitive game modes, like Push. They noted that Overwatch 2 would be 5v5, meaning one tank from each team would be cut. This was the developers’ attempt to make teams less reliant on tanks and spice up the meta, prompting them to also balance and change some heroes.
On top of that, Overwatch 2 will have new heroes, hero design reworks, and an upgrade to how the weapons feel. You know, ALL THINGS THAT COULD BE DONE IN THE EXISTING TITLE. But let me first just say, new title or not, these changes are not mindblowing to me. I’m not at the edge of my gaming chair, anxiously awaiting these things.
Let me be clear that some Overwatch fans did as for a campaign due to the game’s rich lore. But from what I’ve seen of it, I’m not extremely impressed. I commend Blizzard for undertaking this challenge and giving each hero their own separate story, but we still haven’t heard much about this aside from the basics. I am sort of assuming these missions will be quite short. I think they will feel like a regular competitive match but with bots and with changing abilities. It just wasn’t the right way to go about a campaign.
Frankly, I just am not dying to play it. I don’t care either way.
2. Do These Changes Really Need to Happen in an Entirely New Game?
No, and let me be super frank here, no. No, they don’t. Blizzard itself has stated that the changes will be available in the original Overwatch, regarding the new competitive mode, the maps, the heroes, the skins… So what the hell are we needing a new game for? The stupid campaign? Is that the reason we are getting no content in the original Overwatch?
Ever since Overwatch 2 was announced, I was confused why it was a new game, as were basically most fans. The answer is clearly money. It’s hard to understand why else maps and game modes and heroes can suddenly no longer be added to the original Overwatch and MUST be on a new game.
Blizzard was better off just continuing to update the original Overwatch, adding in all of the content planned for Overwatch 2, and then creating an entirely new RPG based in the Overwatch universe. Sort of like what Riot keeps doing with League of Legends. They are creating a League of Legends fighting game, a board game, a card game, anything…
Just make a full-blown Overwatch RPG instead of a quasi-campaign within Overwatch 2. Meanwhile, put all of the other content on the original Overwatch as usual. That would be ideal instead of just leaving Overwatch hanging for over two years for a game that isn’t even worth $30. And let me reiterate: ALL OF THE CHANGES ARE GOING TO THE ORIGINAL OVERWATCH ANYWAY.
3. I Don’t Want to Pay Again
Maybe this is a selfish reason. Maybe most of the Overwatch fandom wants to pay for the game again even though all of the content will be available on the original for some reason. But frankly, I just don’t want to pay for Overwatch again, even if some heroes look slightly different in the new one. Sorry.
4. I Don’t Like How Blizzard Handled Overwatch 2
This is probably apparent by now and might seem redundant. But I feel this is worth its own point. I just don’t think I have it in me to be excited about a game created by the same team that has all but abandoned the player base. Leaving Overwatch without any new heroes, maps, or meaningful content is most definitely frustrating for most fans, as is Blizzard not really addressing ongoing in-game issues and balance concerns.
The team has ultimately decided to just abandon the game — and that doesn’t sit right with me. This seems like a tactic to force players to buy Overwatch 2 out of boredom and frustration, as they are left pining for what Overwatch content once was.
But, let me repeat, developers HAVE already stated that a lot of the updates will also be added to the original game. So not only does this make getting Overwatch 2 almost pointless for anyone other than campaign-hungry fans, it also proves that the original title has the capability of handling almost all of this new content. This means: THE OVERWATCH TEAM COULD HAVE BEEN ADDING THESE NEW HERO UPGRADES, SKINS, NEW HEROES, MAPS, GAME MODES ETC. TO OVERWATCH THIS ENTIRE TIME BUT INSTEAD CHOSE TO LET THE GAME DIE SO THEY COULD MAKE MONEY OFF OF A NEW ONE!
5. I Don’t Like Blizzard. Period.
Outside of this whole Overwatch debacle, Blizzard has been handling things even worse. In fact, this Overwatch thing might even be the best thing that’s happening right now. I don’t think I need to go into a lot of detail at this point, but basically, Blizzard has handled the gender discrimination lawsuit and harassment claims quite poorly. The only meaningful thing the company has done is change McCree’s name.
Meanwhile, Blizzard has done nothing to change the actual internal issues, even standing by CEO Bobby Kotick once it was revealed that he knew about the ongoing harassment and purposefully ignored the claims and kept accused employees. Oh, and also threatened to have a female employee murdered. But apparently, this wasn’t enough for the board to nudge him to step down, even as employees started walking out.
Blizzard has no desire to do any actual impactful changes. They don’t want to fire employees that have harassed female employees, created sexist environments, or refused to let them grow or have the same opportunities as male colleagues. They don’t want to get rid of the CEO.
There is a reason that Blizzard co-head Jen Oneal left in November just three months after taking the job, revealing in an email that she believes there is no hope that company culture will change from what she had witnessed thus far.
I don’t want to support a company like this myself. I will continue to play Overwatch, sure. But I don’t want to buy Overwatch again.
6. I Hate Sequels!
Why is everything a sequel, prequel, remake, remaster, reimagining, adaption, rework… It’s so bad that if I see a trailer for a movie that isn’t one of those things I immediately plan to buy tickets to go see it because it’s actually a new idea.
Right now, Blizzard is just making sequels and different variations of their original games, basically preying on nostalgia and not wanting to put any effort towards new concepts. And even these repeated concepts keep getting delayed indefinitely.
It’s just so lazy.
While Riot’s painful League of Legends lore milking is a bit sickening I have to commend them for at least creating entirely new games. They are attempting to make a fighting game, which is cool compared to Blizzard promising Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2 over and over again.
Its sort of like Blizzard knows that people only tolerate them because they are already attached to these existing titles.
But even then they do a bad job. How many times do I have to hear Asmongold complain about World of Warcraft? All the guy does is bring up the flaws in the developers’ decisions and lackluster updates, as well as their clear money grabs. It’s quite sad. I can’t say that I’m as upset as Asmongold about them removing cleavage in a painting but most of his complaints about the overall direction are quite spot on.
Maybe I’m a party pooper. Maybe Overwatch 2 is the most awesome and exciting thing to happen to Overwatch. I don’t want to poo-poo on some fans’ Overwatch wet dream about Solder: 76’s skill trees. But I’m just not feeling it. I’m sure there are some interesting changes but at this point, I just don’t care and would rather this entire thing be done with.
Without Jeff Kaplan, who even wants to hear these updates or sit through these panels?
