The initial success of Overwatch has long been history. Maybe Overwatch 2 will bring the necessary something.
Overwatch 1 will celebrate its six-year anniversary in about a month. While the first steps of the game were still relatively pleasant and they even secured the Game of the Year award in 2016, the hero shooter slipped more and more under the radar in recent years. For this very reason, Blizzard now wants to launch a last rescue attempt with Overwatch 2. The test phase will start on 26 April with the first beta. Will Blizzard still get its act together?
Overwatch’s difficulties so far
Overwatch doesn’t exactly have the best reputation in the gaming and esports scene. Many parts of the community declared the game dead as early as 2020. Of the approximately 50 million players who bought the first part, only a fraction is left today.
This is especially due to Blizzard’s poor handling of the game, which unfortunately pushed Overwatch in the wrong direction. Innovations and updates with innovative content were sought in vain. Thus, many players lost interest after a short time.
In addition, Blizzard wanted to establish Overwatch as an esport title at all costs and ensured that the actual core – the casual players – died out with various balancing changes. Over time, most of the professional players also left and tried a new start in VALORANT, for example.
Release and more info
The first beta of Overwatch 2 runs under the motto PvP and starts already in a few days. While some new features are coming to the game, at first glance everything looks more like a big update and not a whole new standalone game.
Probably the most influential change is the switch from 6-against-6 to the classic 5-against-5, bringing Overwatch in line with other competitive team games like Counter-Strike or VALORANT. In addition to reworks for the heroes Orisa, Doomfist, Bastion and Sombra, a new hero, Sojourn, will also be added to the game.
In addition to the already familiar maps from Overwatch 1, a total of four new representatives await you. Circuit Royal as an escort map, Midtown as a hybrid map and the maps Toronto and Rome for the new game mode “Push”. Small other changes such as a new ping system complete the innovations that we will get to see in the first beta.
As a prerequisite for participating in the first test, you must already be in possession of the first part. In addition, the first beta is only open to PC players. (Here) you can already register now.
Will the return be successful?
With the release of Overwatch 2, there is immense pressure on Blizzard’s shoulders. If they screw it up again now, they may have blown their last chance. After the chaotic last few years, the gaming community finally deserves another good game.
Since the release of Damage hero Echo in 2020, not very much has happened around the hero inventory. Now there is finally new content again. After the release of hero Sojourn, we can hopefully expect new characters again at regular intervals.
The new maps already make a promising impression and the new push mode could also bring the necessary momentum. In addition, the change to only five players will be interesting to watch and will certainly bring a bit more speed into the game.
Many ex-players will certainly give the game another chance because of the innovations. Acceptance depends on whether Blizzard releases the game as a free-to-play title or as a paid product. Currently, it looks like PvP content will already be playable with the basic version. The PvE content, on the other hand, will be associated with additional costs. However, Blizzard has not yet made a final statement on this.
If Blizzard finally manages to create a well-balanced game with Overwatch 2, which will also receive regular updates in the future and listen to the feedback of the community, there is a chance that the hero shooter will return. However, if the mistake is made again and the casual community is neglected too much, then exactly the same thing could happen as with Overwatch 1.
