In recently gaming history, has there never been as big of a back track as Blizzard Entertainment’s flop of “Overwatch 2”
Once a genre defining game, the “Hero Shooter” archetype was really popularized by the original “Overwatch”. Released in May of 2016, it was an instant hit. Gaining over seven-million players in the first two weeks of it hitting the market.
I remember the first time I played it in 2016, I was a young child, but the bright colors, and amazing character design really hit a chord with me.
But slowly, like every game does, it started to fall apart.
Low player count, bugs in latest patches, few and far between updates, it was a horrible time to play. Blizzard decided it was time to change things up.
They had constantly teased the player base about releasing the next game “Overwatch 2” and promised the world. A story mode, different skill trees, and more characters than ever. But as usual, it flopped.
They had three years to take a formula that works, and they put it through the ringer. More bugs, no skill tree, and most disappointingly, no story mode. The community was outraged, but eventually it scrabbled, and was able to release steadier updates, and more character releases, as well as better cosmetics, but that’s trivial.
Recently this past February, they decided to go back to the original game name as “Overwatch” effectively turning the second game into something that could have just been a huge update.
But, this new change has been widely accepted. With this revitalized take on the game, came a release of five new heroes. One tank, two healers, and two damage.
When I came back to the game, I initially thought the characters were a little “gimmickee” but from playing them, they seem fully flushed out, and relatively balanced upon release (which is very rare).
Overall, I am both hopefully, and a little scared about upcoming changes. I like where they are taking the game in terms of game mechanics, but I’m terrified that they will revert to their old ways even after finding success and the state of the game will go back to being toxic, and unenjoyable to play.
