A few core Overwatch 2 developers participated in a lengthy Reddit AMA session earlier this week, revealing some new information on the upcoming game.
For example, Game Director Aaron Keller said the team is looking at social systems like guilds and in-game tournaments to be eventually added to Overwatch 2.
We are looking to add more social systems to Overwatch 2, and a guild system is near the top of the list for us. A feature like this is a great opportunity and something we’re really excited about, but it’s a huge lift, not just for large sections of our team but several other departments at Blizzard. We have put significant work towards this feature, but it’s too early to talk about specifics or when it might come out.
The other suggestion, in-game tournaments, is something that the team is starting to dig into more.
Keller also explained that the Blizzard team currently on Overwatch 2 is over three times as large as the one which shipped the first game. Even so, given that they are also working on the PvE component and many other things, they cannot quickly pump out new heroes.
Overwatch heroes are incredibly exciting. We pour our hearts and souls into every one that we create. Seeing the community’s desire for more feels great to the team (we want more too!) and I think that the question as to why there aren’t more at release is reasonable. For context, development of Overwatch 2 was initially split between the PvE and PvP sides of the game, and the way it was scheduled was to get most parts of the game completed once the game was ready to ship. To be clear, there is no secret vault of completed heroes and other content that we’re holding for future seasons. As we continued to iterate on the PvE side of the game it meant that the schedule for PvP content and features went longer. Many of the features of PvE, such as the enemy units or hero talents, utilize the same resources on the team as heroes do. For us it’s more important to start shipping content as soon as we can rather than holding the release of the game in order to create more heroes. This is also the reason we’re so excited to go F2P and release content on a seasonal basis – namely to release content when it’s finished rather than holding it to put into a box.
In order to succeed with our new plan long-term, we’ve grown and restructured the team. We’re over three times the size we were at launch. We have big plans for the game, beyond new heroes, maps and game modes, and to accomplish these while still creating content for our seasons takes a lot resources and a lot of planning. For instance, we have several heroes deep into development. The season 2 hero is almost finished, and we’re in varied stages of playtesting for the next 3 heroes, 2 of which are supports!
Overwatch 2 is launching as a free-to-play early access game on October 4th for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, and Nintendo Switch with cross-play and cross-progression functionality. Blizzard recently revealed that Overwatch 2 is also ditching loot boxes, while currencies will be transferred (with some limitations).
