Original Overwatch is offline. As expected, since Blizzard Entertainment plans to release a sequel, Overwatch 2, on Tuesday. Overwatch players will be without the game for a period of 27 hours, when Blizzard will kick off the free-to-play era of Overwatch 2.
The end of the Overwatch It’s bittersweet, as the original game, which itself has grown tremendously over the years, is effectively gone. Once Overwatch 2 take over, many heroes will play differently from them over the past few years. Old, familiar maps like Hanamura and Temple of Anubis will all be gone, as the game mode using them is no longer part of the sequel’s gameplay. Six-hero teams will make way for five-hero teams, part of Blizzard’s efforts to bring balance and improve readability to the game.
Blizzard gave players a small but meaningful event Monday, saying via in-game chat, “Even the best journeys end, but a new one is approaching. Thank you heroes! See you on October 4th! ” At 12 midnight EDT / 9 am PDT, the matchmaking server for the original Overwatch downward. But anyone who has played the original will have access to Overwatch 2 when it goes live on Tuesday.
Overwatch released in 2016 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One. The hero shooter boasts 21 playable characters and maps at launch, and over the past six years Blizzard has added another 11 heroes to the game’s roster. Overwatch 2 will welcome three new heroes, with more expected to arrive every 18 weeks or so.
Two years after its launch, Activision Blizzard has been aggressively pushing the e-sports arena, launching the Overwatch League, which is currently in its fifth season. Blizzard’s focus on esports and competitive play has, in some ways, impacted gameplay for all players, as Blizzard pursues a level playing field and aims to be professional. Overwatch interesting to see.
The past two years of Overwatch was lighter on new content than in the first four years. The most recent hero added to the original was Echo in April 2020and players of the original Overwatch has self-sustained seasonal rotation, new maps, hero rework, and experimental balance changes in recent years.
Recent years have also been a tumultuous time for the Overwatch development team. Key people, including original game director Jeff Kaplan, lead screenwriter Michael Chu, executive producer Chacko Sonny, and lead hero designer Geoff Goodman, have left Blizzard during development Overwatch 2. Other Blizzard employees have been fired or forced out, resulting in the changes affected the Overwatch roster itself.
The transition to Overwatch 2 will come with some wrinkles of its own, as all players are It is mandatory to attach a phone number to the game, part of Blizzard’s efforts to curb fraudulent and malicious behavior. That will eventually leave some originality Overwatch the players behind who may no longer be able to play the game. For them, closing the original Overwatch even more bittersweet.
