What’s Next for Overwatch 2? Blizzard Shares Future Plans, Story Mission Challenges, and More

Question: Many changes have occurred in Overwatch 2 this year. How do you assess the game`s current state and its overall health?

Aaron Keller: This year has been rich with major releases. Earlier this year, we launched the Perk system – a significant game mechanic that changed moment-to-moment gameplay dynamics. It gave players more strategic choices and amplified each hero`s “power fantasy.” Season 16 introduced “Stadium” – possibly the biggest new game mode in the game`s history, generating immense excitement. We also introduced hero bans and map voting, as well as a new hero, with another coming soon.

Many players now tell us that Overwatch is in its best state ever. We attribute this to making more substantial changes than we typically would have in the past. Historically, Overwatch could be called conservative, but now we have a new mindset and vision for the game`s development. We aim for bolder experiments, and you`ll see this in Season 18.

Question: Tell us more about what awaits players in Season 18.

Alec Dawson: We view Season 18 as the next step for many of the big swings we`ve taken this year. There will be about 60 brand new Perks, with every hero getting a refresh. “Quick Play” will be available in “Stadium,” and four new heroes are coming: Brigitte, Winston, Farah, and Tracer. Much of Season 18 involves re-evaluating current content and evolving or even revamping it. For example, our progression system – it`s been in the game for a while, but players weren`t very engaged due to its excessive complexity. We want to simplify it, make it more visible and understandable.

Aaron Keller: We are completely overhauling the progression system. Previously, it felt like a bunch of constantly rising bars. It was quite complex, so we`ve simplified it. But the exciting part is that it`s not only easier to understand but also brings many cool new rewards. There will be an entire rewards track where you can update emotes, “Play of the Game” intros, even loot boxes and legendary loot boxes. There will be an “Ascended State” with a cool icon and VFX, showing how much time you`ve dedicated to each hero. A new Hero Skill Rating system is being introduced, so you`ll know how good you are not just in a particular role, but how well you play each of your heroes in Competitive. You`ll see which ones you`re better at and which ones you`re weaker at. There will also be a new advanced hero info panel where you can look up stats on what all the different heroes do.

We are bringing “Stadium” to “Quick Play” – one of the most frequent player requests – and it will support cross-play. Four new heroes are coming to “Stadium,” a new game mode “Payload Race,” and two brand new maps for it. Wuyang, our new support hero, will appear in the game, and there will also be changes for Roadhog. “Lucio Ball” is back – this time in third-person – and mouse and keyboard support is coming to console.

There are also cosmetic novelties. Kiriko will get a skateboard emote allowing her to travel around maps. The Mythic Character skins and Mythic Weapon skins this season are also very cool… This is a huge update for Overwatch. It will be one of the biggest seasons in the game`s history.

Question: Is this the largest update in terms of sheer content? Based on what you`re saying, it seems there`s never been an update quite this big.

Aaron Keller: I don`t want to exaggerate and say this is the biggest one coming, but man, it`s… it is big.

Alec Dawson: There`s some truth to that, though. I think our team has been getting better and better at structuring our seasons, and now we can create really significant moments. Season 9 felt like a big change in the game, then Season 12 had Juno and a bunch of competitive updates. 15 and 16 added Perks and Stadium. And now 18 is another massive update for Overwatch. We`ve become much more efficient and better at planning over time, which has led to these big moments for Overwatch. We can now decide, “Hey, how do we want to change the game for the middle of the year?”

Question: It feels like even your newest hero, Wuyang, plays quite differently.

Aaron Keller: Yes, Wuyang has many unique mechanics and abilities. He can surf on his own wave across the map, getting a speed boost and jumping over obstacles. With his staff, he creates a wave of water that knocks back enemies, and he can turn himself or allies into “ticking time bombs” by imbuing them with water. But what excites me most is his primary fire. He shoots an orb that can be fired rapidly, but at any moment, you can take control and steer it, turning it into a guided missile. Even if enemies take cover, you can bend it around corners. There`s a skill element here; it takes some practice, but once you master it, it`s incredibly satisfying.

Alec Dawson: I think he`s one of the best support heroes we`ve ever made. He`s an example of what a support can be in Overwatch 2: he can have a huge impact through his offense and make game-changing plays. Wuyang is dynamic in that he has to switch from offense to defense very quickly. All your attention will be on the primary fire, landing shots, and tracking people down, but then you have defensive options that you`ll need to use very timely. His “Guardian Wave” is a large wave that heals and provides healing boosts – it can instantly change the tide of a fight.

I think players will really love him. I know we`re not supposed to play favorites, but he`s a joy to play with, and I think he`s truly special.

Question: I also think he`s one of the first heroes whose skills and powers feel almost more magical than technological, right? Historically, Overwatch has always leaned more into tech than magic. Was that a conversation you had during his development?

Aaron Keller: Oh, yes, and we have those conversations all the time. We discussed it a lot with both Hanzo and Genji, you know, because when they summon the dragon, that feels quite magical as well. We have our own internal explanations for this that we will eventually share with players, but we`re not quite ready yet. I guess all I can say right now is that Overwatch is a science fiction game, and so there is an explanation behind how those things work.

Question: Do you feel like you`re still fighting the initial conservative nature of the game? As you both said, for a long time, Overwatch was more conservative. Are you still battling that hesitation, or is it a case of “Nope, we`re all in”?

Aaron Keller: I think the team has left much of the hesitation about being conservative behind. The question for us really is, how big do we go with releases for Overwatch? Because there are two sides to this coin. There`s an active player base that really appreciates the way the game plays right now, you know. But we also see that anytime we do make a big release for the game, players respond to it very positively.

So we want to keep going big. I think what we want to do is explore how big we really can go for Overwatch. And I think as we hit seasons like 18 here, and we see players` excitement, that gives us the confidence to know this isn`t just the right direction – this is something that we can expand on in the future. We can keep pushing the boundaries of what a release for Overwatch can be.

Question: With the implementation of “Stadium,” did you see a spike in people playing Overwatch 2? If so, what was the retention like afterward?

Aaron Keller: There was a huge spike in people jumping into “Stadium” when it first came out. I remember we publicly stated at one point that over 50% of play hours in Overwatch were in “Stadium.” And when we do have new modes, we always see that initial burst of excitement, and then it tends to taper off. “Stadium” did taper off, but not to the extent that our other modes have. I think it`s still our third most popular mode in the game right now, just behind “Quick Play” and Competitive.

Alec Dawson: We view “Stadium” as one of the main ways to play Overwatch, and Season 18 is almost like “Stadium`s 1.0” launch. Many players are clamoring for “Quick Play” to be in there. They want something a bit shorter and without a rank associated with it. So, in “Quick Play,” it will be a best-of-five round structure, and you`ll power up your hero even faster.

And another major piece of feedback from players is, “Hey, my favorite hero isn`t here.” So we`re continuing to release new heroes into “Stadium.” We`ll be doing that throughout the rest of the year, and there are four this season that I`m very excited about. Tracer, in particular. I think… she`s a little wild.

Aaron Keller: I`m super excited about Winston jumping into “Stadium.” I love playing as him and using his mobility. Sometimes with Winston, you just feel like you`re holding down primary fire a little bit too long to actually be doing what you want to do. [With Stadium], you can really juice his gun, and it feels so satisfying.

Question: How did you land on those four heroes, and what other heroes are players asking for and are on the docket? If you can`t say right now, can you share what gameplay styles you`re focused on bringing in?

Aaron Keller: We look at many things when considering heroes for “Stadium.” First and foremost is how well we feel we can create a really cool set of abilities for them. We want every hero in there to truly double down on their “hero fantasy.” We want to ensure that resonates with our players.

For the first few seasons of “Stadium,” we really tried to have at least a few heroes per role. Eventually, I think we`ll have to break that pattern and move into others. I think we`ll start seeing, you know, maybe different numbers of heroes coming to “Stadium” with different role ratios.

We want to make sure that heroes many people play are available there. As Alex said, many people are saying things like, “Hey, I`m just sitting on the sidelines, waiting for my hero to join the cast.” So we want to open up that funnel.

There are also a few heroes we`re avoiding, you know? Like Widowmaker, who is a controversial hero designed around a one-shot [kill]. I think there are probably some learnings we need to do with how we build those heroes – how we build counters for some of the sharper mechanics.

Question: In a recent IGN article, you said you`d “dropped the ball with story in Overwatch 2,” and I thought that was interesting to bring up so far removed from the announcement of PvE being dropped. So do you have plans to course-correct going forward?

Aaron Keller: Yes. Looking back at Overwatch`s history, there were moments where there was more or less lore – when we were developing more or less story for players. And one of the things we hear from our community – and have been hearing a lot lately – is that they just want more of it in the game. That it feels like we`re doing less of it.

So I`m actually very excited for the Wuyang hero trailer to come out and for people to get a glimpse of that hero and perhaps how they tie into the bigger, broader universe. It`s something I can`t really go into much right now, but I`m excited for players to be able to get in touch with more lore over the coming seasons this year.

Question: Based on that, do you plan on having more heroes come from similar factions or the same countries? I know that, for a while there, there was more avoidance since you`re trying to represent a lot of different backgrounds. But at the same time – and with the lack of PvE – do you find yourself thinking, “Well, actually, let`s add this person`s best friend and have more storytelling through voice lines?” Or “Let`s try to add folks from the same factions.”

Alec Dawson: Yes, there`s a delicate balance to it. We don`t want to make it feel like heroes are appearing out of nowhere and that [players always have] this brand-new thing to learn. I think over quite some time, we`ve created a very rich universe with tons of different characters from different factions, and we want to lean into that more and more.

Even some of the things you saw in the Freya story trailer earlier this year link back to some of the things we`ve already built in the world. We want to make sure that we`re pulling from that world because there are characters that people have only gotten glimpses of, that they love, or that could end up as heroes one day.

Aaron Keller: As far as where our heroes hail from, we do still like to spread heroes out across the globe. That`s a really important value we`ve got. We do like our heroes to feel like they represent Earth, but not in the strictest sense. We don`t have 40% of our heroes from China and India, which is perhaps what a true representation of the global population would be.

Question: Has the team considered any other avenues for more large-scale storytelling? I`m sure you see the success of series like Arcane and Castlevania on Netflix, and I wonder if that has been something you`re interested in pursuing.

Aaron Keller: The team would love to have something like that come out. You know, we`re also fans of those shows and fans of those universes. To have something like that for Overwatch would be really, really cool. But I can`t really discuss plans for future stuff like that.

Question: I completely understand. I just ask because it`s something I want to manifest into the universe. But on the subject of Overwatch`s story – and now that we`re a little more removed from what happened – would you like to go into a little more detail on why story missions didn`t really work out?

Aaron Keller: I know Blizzard sometimes holds its cards close to its chest. But I don`t think we really saw the critical success that we wanted, and it forced us to really analyze where we were putting our time and resources. At the end of the day, what we`ve been telling our players is that we want to make the game they want to play. And the game our players have been playing is this competitive, PvP-focused hero shooter. We really realized that that was the game we needed to invest our time into.

Following the release of our sole campaign, we made a very big internal pivot on the team. We wanted to focus on what it means to be a best-in-class hero shooter. What competitive systems do we need to do that? What about other systems?

In the year since then, we`ve focused on evolving the game our players play – on how we turn it into the best version of Overwatch it can be. That`s why we started doing these much bigger systems, like Perks and “Stadium.” Now that we`ve corrected course, it gives us the opportunity to make bigger steps with the game. And some of those are things players are asking for, but some of them are really big surprises. That`s the future for Overwatch right now.