Overwatch 2 Release Date, News, Rumors, Modes & Trailers

Here is all the known information about Overwatch 2, which is collected bit by bit in one article from reliable and not very verified sources.

Blizzard's sequel to the team-based shooter was revealed by creative director Jeff Kaplan at the annual event, accompanied by an emotional cinematic trailer (which you can find below).

With new PvP modes, new maps, cosmetics and characters, Overwatch 2 looks set to take the series forward. More excitingly, we can expect the addition of story and heroic missions that will allow for "high-paying" co-op play with up to five friends - a first in the Overwatch series and will likely bring a sense of freshness to the experience. 

Go

• What it is?  Continuation of the team shooter from Blizzard
• When will he come out? The date is being specified, but most likely will not happen before 2024.
• What can I play? Probably PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and Xbox One (definitely PS5 and Xbox Series X).

Overwatch 2 release date

Blizzard officially unveiled Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon 2019. Apparently, the sequel is still in the early stages of development, and Blizzard does not know exactly when it will release, although it will not be 100% until 2022. 

During an interview in February 2021, Activision Blizzard CFO Dennis Durkin said, that the company's prospects "do not include" the release of Overwatch 2 in 2021.

Expressing hope that 2022 will be the year, during the same meeting, COO Daniel Alegre said that "the pipeline is going very well and we expect 2022 to be a great year for Blizzard." Even more promising, Blizzard's Jay Allen Brack said that Overwatch 2's development had reached a "major internal milestone" in November.

When asked about the game's release during Overwatch 2's launch event, creative director Jeff Kaplan said, "I don't know. I have no idea. For example, just let us make the shooter great, that's what we care about more than anything." In December 2020, Kaplan added to update, that the team is working "very hard" but there are still "ways to go" in terms of game development.

Overwatch 2 trailers

Jeff Kaplan officially unveiled Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon 2019, along with an eight-minute cinematic trailer titled "Zero Hour".

Check it out below (but have a few napkins ready):

At the same BlizzCon 2019, Blizzard also released a three-minute Overwatch 2 gameplay trailer that shows off the sequel's new look.

See below:

Overwatch 2 News, Rumors and Confirmed Features

We've rounded up all the Overwatch 2 news and rumors below, as well as the features confirmed so far:

Overwatch 2021 won't release in 2

Activision Blizzard has confirmed that it does not expect Overwatch 2 to release in 2021. This was revealed by Activision Blizzard CFO Dennis Durkin, who during a financial call in February 2021 said that the company's outlook does not include the release of Overwatch 2 or Diablo 4. 

According to Durkin , the company expects "Blizzard's net bookings to grow given the dynamics of World of Warcraft and other growth initiatives we have in the business," but added, "Our outlook does not include the launch of Diablo 4 or Overwatch 2 in 2021. And while Diablo Immortal is progressing well and we expect it to launch later this year, our plans at the moment do not include any significant contributions to the game.”

It's possible that while 2021 isn't on the maps of Overwatch 2 yet, 2022, as during the same interview, COO Daniel Alegre said, "The pipeline is progressing very well and we expect 2022 to be a great year for Blizzard. Even more promising, Blizzard's Jay Allen Brack said that a "major internal milestone" had been passed in development for Overwatch 2 in November.  

Developer and BlizzConline Update

In the latest developer update published in December 2020, Overwatch 2 director Jeff Kaplan confirmed that after a long silence during BlizzCon 2021, Blizzard's annual developer conference, an Overwatch 2 update will be released that will include announcements, trailers, and previews. 

In 2021, BlizzCon will be completely online, taking place from February 19 to February 20. 

Kaplan also tried to live up to expectations for the game in the update, stating that while the team is focused on developing Overwatch 2, it still has "paths to success".

Thus, it seems unlikely that previous rumors (via GamesRadar ) that the game will launch in February with Blizzcon are correct. In 2020, a prominent Metro insider stated that the full game could be released as early as February 2021, but Kaplan's cautious update suggests that won't happen. Metro also floated the idea that a beta could be launched around the same time. It seems more likely, but we won't know for sure until BlizzCon itself. 

We'll be updating this page with new Overwatch 2 news from the event when it's announced. 

Larger, more complex maps 

Blizzard is looking to do more with co-op missions in Overwatch 2 by increasing the size of the game's maps and populating them with a wider range of enemies. 

In the message in блоге dated July 2020, speaking about the development tools and engine used for the game, Blizzard stated that "Overwatch 2's PvE maps are larger and more complex than Overwatch maps such as Retribution and Storm Rising. This means not only more distance, but also longer missions involving more enemies and more difficult encounters. The addition of enemy types results in a complex interaction of abilities between enemies and heroes, but also between enemies themselves, 

Echo comes to Overwatch 

Blizzard has announced a new Overwatch hero called Echo and has stated that she will "very likely" be the last hero added to the base game before Overwatch 2. 

In conversation with Polygon Jeff Kaplan said that the development team "has a few new heroes in development. We have a few tanks and we have a few supports in development. But after Echo, the team will be focused on developing Overwatch 2.”

For now, though Kaplan can't provide details on a release date, adding that "development is going great. The team is having a lot of fun making the game, I feel like we're starting to understand it even more." Looks like Overwatch 2 is still a long way off. 

Michael Chu is leaving Blizzard

Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu has announced his departure from Blizzard after 20 years. Chu, who is responsible for much of the game's story and character backstories, posted the news on his блоге and on Twitter. Chu didn't say what his next steps are, but said he hopes to "continue to tell these stories and build worlds that bring people together through games."

Overwatch fans will naturally want to know how this change could affect the development of Overwatch 2, especially since it seems to be focusing more on story and hero missions. According to Blizzard (via PCGamer ), the game should not suffer. 

“We are incredibly grateful to Michael for his contributions and we will miss his presence at Blizzard. We do not expect this to affect our plans for Overwatch 2. Development of the game is a massive collaborative effort involving talented people from multiple teams. all with a shared commitment to the values ​​of Overwatch and the vision of Overwatch 2. We're hard at work creating an epic, story-driven experience for players, and we can't wait to share with others."

Another tweet with a release date

Shortly after the official PlayStation Brazil Twitter account tweeted a 2 release date for Overwatch 2020, the official Twitter of the Overwatch League team, the Vancouver Titans, did the same. Like the PlayStation tweet, this last tweet was deleted but was intercepted. The tweet states that "Overwatch 2 is coming out this year" and then expresses admiration for "all the new game modes."

Since 2020 has come and gone, we can be sure that this and previous leaks related to the 2020 release date were wrong. 

Release date leak?

Official Twitter accounts for the PlayStation of Brazil caused some excitement among Overwatch fans after a tweet that "2020 will be the year Overwatch 2 comes to PS4." The tweet has since been deleted, but Voxel took a screenshot. There has been no official comment from Blizzard regarding this, but it is possible that this was a simple mistake on the part of the PlayStation Brazil Twitter team. We won't know for sure until we get an official comment; previously, Jeff Kaplan has categorically stated that he does not know when the game will be released as it is still in its early stages. 

Teaser for another hero?

Blizzard has been pretty tight-lipped when it comes to Overwatch 2's hero roster, but fans who watched the live broadcast of Yule magazine Jeff Kaplan were left wondering if the director was teasing a new character for the next release (via ComicBook). During the live stream, Kaplan, while building Lego Overwatch set at around 6 hours and 11 minutes, mentions famous Overwatch character Junker Queen and asks a few questions about whether she's going to "someday be a hero" and the role she could would take over if she was. It was far from confirming anything, but it was enough in a quiet live stream to grab the attention of Overwatch fans. We assume that if Junker Queen becomes Overwatch 2's hero, we'll get confirmation closer to the game's release, when that might be. 

Bigger maps and more heroes

In a recent interview, Overwatch 2 assistant director Aaron Keller and lead writer Michael Chu expanded the team's PvE game ambitions a bit. According to Keller, "many heroes are working on the game" and its PvE maps are "2x bigger than regular Overwatch maps". 

This increased scope serves to tell more stories in the Overwatch world, and that the new co-op story missions will allow "a more traditional way of telling stories in the Overwatch universe." A story that, according to Chu, will have "a beginning, a middle, and an end."

Naturally, as stated earlier, PvP is still the focus of the team, and progress in PvP will be "completely separate" from PvE.

According to Keller, “We don't want gameplay-changing talents and abilities to give an unfair advantage in PvP. We are still learning what players can earn in PvE and creating a progression system for that. Our goal is to create a robust and meaningful progression system to be used in our Hero Missions, where players can play and replay for many hours, or as the main game mode once Overwatch 2's story is complete."

Narrative focus

"In Overwatch 2, we're building cooperative gameplay that's based on the storytelling that players have been asking for since the beginning - and something we've wanted to achieve for a long time," said J. Allen Brack, president of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to telling the next chapter of this epic story in-game, and we're thrilled to bring players a whole new kind of co-op experience based on developing and customizing their favorite heroes — and in doing so, even more than anything they love about Overwatch today.

PvP is still in the spotlight

While there is a lot of focus on new co-op modes, Kaplan took the time to dispel the myth that Overwatch 2 would lose out to the multiplayer modes that had 50 million people playing the game. 

In fact, according to Kaplan, the huge goal of the Overwatch 2 team is to make PvP as good as possible, which includes new maps, new modes, and new characters. 

Cosmetic items will overlap.

According to Kaplan, all cosmetic items earned in the original Overwatch will carry over to Overwatch 2, a move that will help speed up the transition to the new game.

Hero missions In missions

Overwatch's team of heroes travel the world, defending cities from robot incursions, taking on elite Talon agents, and taking on villains besieging the world. This "multi-playable mode" will allow players to level up their favorite heroes and gain powerful customization options that enhance their co-op options - like modifying Reinhardt's Fire Strike to set nearby enemies on fire, or modifying Tracer's Pulse Bomb to unleash a devastating chain reaction - providing they needed additional advantage against superior forces.

Overwatch and Overwatch 2 are compatible.

Currently, Overwatch players can play alongside Overwatch 2 players in PvP multiplayer mode. In addition, current Overwatch players will be able to play as Overwatch 2 heroes and maps.

Co-op missions

The co-op missions see players banding together to "together against a huge outbreak of threats around the world." 

Overwatch 2 Play

Similar to what we saw with its predecessor, Overwatch Play promotes existing player achievements and loot collection and features the current full Overwatch roster, a new generation of heroes, new maps that "expand the boundaries of the world" and a new type of Push map - yet to be revealed.

Story missions

Story missions see Winston, Tracer and other members of the original Overwatch join forces with a new generation of heroes. Players will be heavily involved in the Overwatch saga as a new global crisis unfolds through a series of intense, high-stakes four-player missions. As the story progresses, players will form different groups of heroes and fight to protect the world from the universal forces of Sector Zero, uncover the motives behind the attacks of robotic armies, and come face to face with growing new threats around the globe.

New engine updates

Overwatch 2 introduces significant engine improvements that support large co-op (PvE) maps, as well as a large number of new enemies and factions that players will face in their missions. The game also features visual improvements.

BlizzCon 2019

Overwatch 2 was officially revealed at BlizzCon 2019, along with an eight-minute cinematic trailer. We also have a XNUMX-minute gameplay trailer that showcases the sequel's new look, as well as new hero abilities.

Overwatch 2 will feature new PvP modes that will feature tug-of-war in competitive play, as well as new maps, cosmetics, and characters, including Sojourn. While new PVP modes are expected, new to the series is the addition of story and heroic missions that allow co-op play - a first for the series.