Overwatch 2 will totally exchange Overwatch when it releases this October, as the primary entry within the hero shooter sequence will likely be made unplayable.
Developer Blizzard clarified its plans to sundown the sport following the discharge of Overwatch 2 in a developer AMA on Reddit (opens in new tab). When sked what the launch of the sequel would imply for Overwatch, sport director Aaron Keller was clear: “when [Overwatch 2] launches on October 4th will probably be a substitute for the present reside service”.
The discharge of Overwatch 2 will overwrite the unique sport wholesale. The sequel – with its main stability tweaks, map adjustments, and swap from 6v6 to 5v5 matches – would be the solely method to play the Overwatch sequence.
The sport’s ultimate vacation spot has been a degree of confusion for a while. As PC Gamer (opens in new tab) highlights, a tweet (opens in new tab) despatched by the official Overwatch account again in 2019 said “Overwatch 1 gamers and Overwatch 2 gamers will play alongside on the identical maps”, suggesting each video games can be reside concurrently. It seems that was both wrongly prompt, or Blizzard altered the course of the sequence throughout Overwatch 2’s growth.
Extra to come back
The Reddit AMA additionally revealed what is going to occur to Overwatch 1 content material that will not be included in Overwatch 2 at launch. Programs designer Gavin Winter mentioned (opens in new tab) maps reminiscent of Temple of Anubis and Hanamura will likely be out there to play in customized video games, however gained’t be included in different modes at launch.
“I’ve some concepts I might like to attempt in terms of repurposing them for brand new potential sport modes, however these concepts might solely see the sunshine of day within the distant future given our present plans,” Winter mentioned. “If we did discover a method to give them a brand new mode we might wish to do intensive testing within the Arcade or in different codecs the place we are able to get group suggestions.”
Elsewhere within the AMA, Keller clarified why Overwatch 2 will likely be launching with solely three new heroes, two of which – Sojourn and Junker Queen – have already been revealed within the Overwatch 2 beta. Keller mentioned (opens in new tab) growth sources had initially been cut up between Overwatch 2’s PvE and PvP parts, however as the event of co-op content material dragged, the aggressive multiplayer aspect was additionally hit.
“To be clear, there is no such thing as a secret vault of accomplished heroes and different content material that we’re holding for future seasons,” Keller mentioned. “As we continued to iterate on the PvE aspect of the sport it meant that the schedule for PvP content material and options went longer.”
Extra heroes are on the best way, although. Because the not too long ago launched Overwatch 2 roadmap revealed, Blizzard plans to introduce a brand new hero in every seasonal replace. They’ll roll out each 9 weeks after the sport launches on October 4