Ex-Blizzard Devs Think Overwatch 2 Story Missions Have Been Canceled

19.03.2024 - 00:29 / gamerant.com / Eric Law

According to some former Overwatch 2 developers, the troubled development, poor reception, and recent layoffs have led to an uncertain future for the game's PvE Story Missions. What was once a headlining feature of Overwatch 2 may never get the opportunity to shine if these devs' fears come true.

When Overwatch 2 was first announced in 2019, its PvE content was a central pillar of the sequel’s creation. However, many of these PvE features were canceled in 2023 shortly before a set of three Story Missions were released in August during Overwatch 2 Season 6. Though they ended on a cliffhanger, Overwatch 2 has been silent on the subject of more Story Missions since then.

Now, some former Overwatch 2 developers have shared fears that there may never be more Story Missions in the Blizzard FPS. During an Overwatch 2 interview with Kotaku, a group of ex-Blizzard devs who wished to remain anonymous said that the first three Story Missions “did not do well at all,” either in player satisfaction or financial success. Additionally, they confirmed the Microsoft layoffs from January impacted many developers who were working on events, PvE content, and narrative elements. “If they’re gonna make more of that stuff, they just laid off all the people who were working on it,” one developer said. “Maybe there’s some other way they could do it, but most of the people laid off from the Overwatch team were working on that pillar.”

According to the devs, the development process for Overwatch 2 PvE has been a struggle since the beginning. While PvP was always core to Overwatch 2’s success, there were difficulties in adapting the PvP-centric hero kits to be useful in PvE. These problems meant more development time, however – and that bred a subtle negative internal sentiment towards PvE. “Everybody still cared a lot about PvE, though, and that includes team leadership,” they said, “[but] it really doesn’t seem like, even from a business perspective, that Activision or Microsoft have any faith in the PvE.”

“Maybe there’s some other way they could do it, but most of the people laid off from the Overwatch team were working on that pillar.”

These sources indicate that Overwatch 2 PvE was mired in indecision, pessimism, and inflated expectations from the onset. Blizzard executives would ask if the content was of “Blizzard Quality,” while also saying, “Don’t worry about it. It’ll be fine. We have so much confidence in it. Trust us.” These factors sparked frustration and uncertainty that the devs in question think led to its current limbo. “It’s always leadership or game directors, deciding they need to spend the extra time. So honestly, if they could have just made any kind of decisions, the game would have shipped years ago.”