A "large" new Overwatch feature is set to be announced in the near future, according to Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller. The project lead was mum on specifics, but did rule out a few possibilities in responding to fan questions about Blizzard's next online shooter.
Overwatch 2 has been one of the more mysterious projects at the company. While it's confirmed that the title will include things like a new graphics engine, new passive abilities, and co-op missions, many details remain hidden despite years of development. Remarkably, it will even support crossplay with its predecessor, Overwatch, raising a slew of technical and content questions. Blizzard is retroactively applying some OW2 game changes, for instance reducing the size of competitive team matches from 6v6 to 5v5.
"We have several exciting things coming to Overwatch," Keller said in a Reddit AMA. "As far as rough estimates go - one large feature will be announced somewhere in the timeframe between soon and really soon." One prospect that can be ruled out, PC Gamer notes, is an Apex Legends-style ping system, since Keller explained that while Blizzard has a prototype, nothing can be promised yet. It's also unlikely to be a revelation about graphics, though technical director John Lafleur did promise "many new features" in the game's engine on top of "optimizations" and "better lighting." Some of those undisclosed features are said to help with environmental storytelling.
Both Keller and Lafleur avoided the suggestion of a release date. Lafleur did say there will "almost certainly" be a beta test before launch, but this was probably undisputed - online games as popular as Overwatch require heavy stress testing. Even then, products can collapse under the weight of launch, not just from server strain but players discovering bugs and imbalances. Indeed, Keller suggested that Overwatch 2 could have smaller maps, since "core gun play begins to break down" in the open spaces of OW1 maps like Junkertown.
Confidence in the series was shaken this April when Jeff Kaplan - a Blizzard veteran for nearly 20 years - suddenly announced his departure from the company, and by extension his leadership of Overwatch 2. Keller, his replacement, tried to reassure the public that development is continuing smoothly. The game was first announced in November 2019, though, and won't ship until at least 2022, even with OW1 as its underlying foundations. That could mean it will launch within months of another flagship Blizzard game, Diablo 4 - assuming both of them remain on track.
Sources: Aaron Keller/Reddit, PC Gamer
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