AsOverwatchplayers know, the state of the game hasn’t been everything that the community has wanted.Overwatch 2’s development has become Blizzard’s priority, leading to little new content in the original game and little communication from Blizzard itself. That’s exactly whatOverwatch 2game director Aaron Keller acknowledges and apologizes for in his latest developer update video. In turn, Keller also promises a change in direction that could getOverwatch 2in players' hands sooner than expected.
The idea is that Keller knows Blizzard hasn’t lived up toOverwatchfan expectations so far and something needs to change. To start, Keller says thatBlizzardwill be much more communicative going forward. That’s not the biggest promise that Keller makes, however. He says that the team has decided, since it can’t shift back toOverwatchfor more content at this point, to getOverwatch 2playable as soon as it can instead.
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What that means is that Blizzard will be prioritizing the competitive side ofOverwatch 2, the PvP half of the game, over itsPvE planssince that’s the heart of the gameplay experience evolving from the original game. Blizzard’s work has also borne fruit. It plans to launchOverwatch 2’s first PvP alpha test within the week. This alpha will be exclusively available to Blizzard employees and professionalOverwatchplayers, a required first step before making it available more broadly.
As for whenOverwatch 2will start being available to more players, Keller says that aclosed PvP betais tentatively planned for release in April. It’s clearly an aggressive timeline, moving from an internal alpha to an external closed beta in just a month or two. But it’s evidence of Keller’s promise to getOverwatch 2available as fast as possible. Keller says that the development team is confident in the quality ofOverwatch 2based on internal feedback and that he believes players will agree.
Keller also talks aboutOverwatch 2’s future directionin a broader sense, too. He says that the “singular goal” ofOverwatch 2is to ensure it’s a “living, breathing game.” What that means is thatOverwatch 2will be flush with new content on a regular basis.
Putting it all together, it sounds a lot likeOverwatch 2’s PvPis going to arrive sooner than many expected. However, it also may not be the full game release thatOverwatch’s launch was. Instead, the fullOverwatch 2experience will roll out over time, due to the rush to get it playable and also to support its live service structure. What that means in practice remains to be seen, but expectations forOverwatch 2should certainly be adjusted.
Overwatch 2is in development for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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