Jeff Kaplan spoke about the future of Overwatch and revealed information about the next hero and upcoming events. Fans can also expect the next Overwatch event, Year of the Dog, soon – celebrating the Chinese New Year.
The Overwatch community is already hungry for new content. Jeff Kaplan talked in a Developer’s Update at the beginning of the year about many things planned for 2018:
- a new hero
- the next event
- and new maps.
The biggest announcement is “Hero 27”, the next playable character for Overwatch. According to Kaplan, the hero is “urgently needed” and the developers are already testing the hero internally – development seems to be well advanced. What role the hero will take (Tank, Support, Offensive or Defensive) is still completely unclear.
However, Blizzard does not want to announce a release date, as they want to “get the hero right rather than stick to a strict deadline”.
Overwatch Event – Year of the Dog
The Chinese New Year will also be celebrated again in Overwatch. Last year there was the “Year of the Rooster”, with some matching skins and the “Capture the Flag” game mode.
In 2018, however, they are celebrating the “Year of the Dog” and have already come up with some “great content” for it. Whether Kaplan is only talking about skins and other cosmetics or if Overwatch will get a fresh game mode again, was not made clear.
In 2017, the Overwatch New Year’s event began on January 24. The “Year of the Dog” could start in Overwatch soon.
Overwatch Anniversary is being revised
Also under discussion are adjustments to the Overwatch Anniversary. The Blizzard team wants to develop the “Uprising” event further and tell more of the story. Although Kaplan was not specific here, fans believe that there will be a new story mission to play.
The work on the map Blizzard World is almost finished. The developers are satisfied with the map and it will be implemented into the live version of Overwatch “very soon”.
But even outside of Blizzard World, the team is already working on numerous new maps, about which more information will be available throughout the year.
As soon as any of this information becomes concrete, we will of course report on it.
Have you seen the Overwatch League skins? They are now “partially” in the game!
