Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.
New rumors suggest that Overwatch 2 will not be released until 2023. The upcoming team-based first-person shooter, developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, will be a full sequel to 2016's Overwatch. The original title has garnered a strong playerbase due to its large variety of playable heroes, unique cartoonish art style, and balanced gameplay.
Overwatch 2 promises to dramatically shake up the gameplay that Overwatch fans have grown accustomed to since launch. One major change in the sequel is that multiplayer PvP matches will be 5v5, a big change from the first game's 6v6 format. The typical match in the original Overwatch featured two groups of six players, allowing for a large number of different hero combinations while forming a team. In Overwatch 2 these teams have been shrunk to only five players, a small change that will have huge repercussions for how teams are assembled. Each team will now only have one tank, rather than two, which will put renewed emphasis on that powerful defensive class.
A new report from Dexerto suggests that Overwatch 2 may not release until 2023. The leaked information comes from Twitter user Metro, a well-regarded Overwatch streamer and occasional leaker. Multiple sources have apparently told Metro that the development of Overwatch 2 is taking longer than expected, and it is unlikely that the sequel will be released in 2022. Blizzard has stopped major development of the first game to focus on the sequel, as Metro points out, so this rumor would mean that the original Overwatch will not receive any major updates for about a year and a half.
Overwatch 2 was announced back in 2019, and fans are eagerly awaiting the release of the first-person hero shooter's next evolution. While the game may not release for quite some time, one dedicated fan has managed to recreate the upcoming sequel within Overwatch's Workshop Mode. Workshop Mode is a unique mode that allows players to alter the rules of Overwatch in order to create unique game modes. After the recent reveal of Overwatch 2's new mechanics and hero changes, Reddit user ajfis3 implemented all of these changes into an Overwatch 2-themed mode in order to hold themself over until the actual sequel is released.
The series' loyal fanbase is eagerly awaiting the release of Overwatch 2, and so rumors of a 2023 release date are probably quite upsetting to some fans. Blizzard has stopped releasing significant updates for the first game to focus on the sequel, so fans of the beloved hero shooter may be experiencing a severe lack of content for a long while. However, Blizzard has not officially confirmed or denied a release date for Overwatch 2.
Source: Dexerto, Metro/Twitter