Skip to main content

Blizzard's 'Overwatch' team will keep on giving fresh content in the new year

It’s difficult to dispute the fact that Overwatch was one of the biggest video game releases of 2016 — the multiplayer first-person shooter blazed past 20 million players in October, and looks poised to top many games of the year lists. Now it’s director, Jeff Kaplan, has teased some details about what’s in store for 2017.

A new video posted Wednesday on the official Overwatch YouTube account recaps the game’s first year on the market before diving into what players can expect to see next year. According to Kaplan, the Oasis map that’s currently being evaluated in the PC version of the game’s public test realm will likely be ready for a full release in early 2017.

Recommended Videos

In terms of other content, it’s clear that lots of work is being done to create new characters, maps, and modes that will complement the existing Overwatch experience. Kaplan is quick to point out that Blizzard’s development process typically results in lots of experimentation that may never be seen outside of the studio’s confines.

“I always like to give the disclaimer that we tend to work on more content than we release,” explains Kaplan. “Because we prototype stuff, and sometimes it fails, or we don’t like it, or we want to go back to the drawing board.” He uses Genji as an example of this process, as the character spent 18 months in development, even being shelved for periods of time before the team properly executed its ideas.

Kaplan does note that there’s currently one “promising” character who’s a little closer to completion. While there’s no guarantee that this particular combatant will ever join the fray, he notes that the character has entered Blizzard’s art pipeline, which is a good sign that it might move beyond the conceptual stage.

All in all, Kaplan doesn’t offer much in terms of specifics, but what he’s saying suggests that Blizzard has no plans to slow down its Overwatch support in 2017.

Brad Jones
Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…
Overwatch 2 is collaborating with Transformers, and it looks radical
overwatch 2 transfomers crossover teaser transformers reinhardt

Overwatch 2 x Transformers Collaboration Trailer | PS5 & PS4 Games

The long-awaited Transformers and Overwatch 2 collaboration is almost here. Blizzard Entertainment released a cinematic trailer on Monday teasing the crossover and introducing new skins.

Read more
Overwatch 2’s packed Season 11 update brings new map, legendary skins
Mercy in her rose gold outfit. Her hair is strawberry blonde with pink tips and her outfit is different shades of pink.

Blizzard is celebrating 100 million players in Overwatch 2 by bringing back a fan-favorite skin, along with a new map and other changes for its 11th season that launches on June 20.

In an announcement Monday, the studio revealed that the theme of Season 11 will be Super Mega Ultrawatch, where players can unlock superhero-themed Legendary Ultrawatch skins and go up against the evil and magical Mythic Calamity Empress Ashe and B.O.B. These skins for Genji, Repaer, and Sojourn will be available in the Season 11 premium battle pass.

Read more
Overwatch 2’s story-driven PvE missions are being abandoned by Blizzard
A giant turret in set up in Gothenburg in Overwatch 2's story missions.

Overwatch 2 finally got some of its long-awaited PvE content last August, but it doesn't look like more is on the way, according to some new reports.

Earlier this week, a story from Kotaku indicated that the future of Overwatch 2's story-driven PvE missions was in question after the first batch of missions, which were released as paid DLC for a free-to-play game and sold poorly. Now, a new report from Bloomberg affirms that. As part of a newsletter outlining wider frustrations Blizzard's developers have with how the company ties profit-sharing bonuses to the performance of games that specific teams make, Bloomberg touched on how the Overwatch 2 team's bonuses were negatively impacted by the failure of the PvE content. A lot of that PvE team was apparently laid off in January when Microsoft cut 1,900 games-related jobs, and sources now tell Bloomberg that Blizzard does not plan to finish its previously planned PvE content.

Read more