The players of Overwatch have been frustrated in recent months, and that frustration spilled over to the developers. The reason was the work on Overwatch 2.
At BlizzCon, “Overwatch 2” was presented last weekend. This sequel is supposed to bring many PvE missions, new heroes, and lots of new maps. However, the development of the game also caused the developers to feel unwell and face much frustration from the community.
What happened? For just over a year, there has been a bad mood among Overwatch players. The updates for the game have become rarer, and there have hardly been any innovations. The usually popular seasonal events (like Halloween, Summer Games, or the birthday) mostly received just a handful of new skins and perhaps a few other cosmetic items. Many players thought that the developers had become lazy or had no more ideas.
Developers were also somewhat frustrated: In an interview with Kotaku , Jeff Kaplan (Game Director of Overwatch) revealed that the shared work on both games also led to dissatisfaction among the developers. Kaplan explained:
I’m sitting right next to one of the designers of Junkenstein’s Revenge – this brilliant guy named Mike Heiberg – and he says, “I have all these ideas for what I want to do for Halloween this year.” I have to say, “I understand, Mike, but we’re focused on this other thing right now.” That’s been hard for us.
This, along with the increasingly loud voices of fans, had raised dissatisfaction and pressure on the developers. But that’s exactly why people are now happy, as there can finally be an open discussion about Overwatch 2 and the work of the developers.
We can now have this open dialogue with the community and say, “This is what we’re currently working on and why we’re doing it.”
Is Overwatch 1 now “dead”? However, Kaplan firmly believes that Overwatch 1 is not dead, but rather just in a temporary state of rest. After all, Overwatch 1 will later merge with its successor.
There will come a time when the clients [of Overwatch] merge. We believe that is important, especially for the competitive experience. The whole idea behind it is that we don’t want to split the players or give anyone a competitive advantage.
If we’re playing in the same pool, then no player better have a better frame rate just because they are playing a different version of the game.
There should still be new updates for Overwatch 1, at least a few minor ones. However, whether that will keep the fans engaged until “Overwatch 2” remains to be seen.
What do you think? Understandable and reasonable? Or annoying as a player of Overwatch 1?
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