In another twist in the ongoing Overwatch 2 metanarrative, Blizzard has announced that the hero shooter's highly-anticipated cooperative PvE mode has been scrapped. That's despite promising for years that it would be included, with skill trees and perks, to boot.
Executive producer Jared Neuss delivered the news in a recent stream (thanks, Eurogamer), admitting that "development on the PvE experience really hasn't made the progress we would have hoped". While the team had developed "a bunch of amazing content", Nuess explained that "the effort required to pull all of that together into a Blizzard-quality experience that we can ship to you is huge, and there really is no end in sight... "
Neuss elaborated, noting that: "We're left with another difficult choice: do we continue to pour all of that effort into PvE hoping that we can land it at some point in the future, or do we stick with this set of values we've aligned on and focus on the live game and focus on serving all of you?"
The community, predictably, isn't having any of it. Outspoken members have voiced various versions of the same sentiment: Blizzard had overpromised and underdelivered, and it looks like what PVE content was developed will likely be cannibalised and doled out seasonally. Streamer KarQ summed up the state of affairs quite eloquently on Twitter:
What do you think about this latest development? Were you holding out hope for Overwatch 2's promised co-op mode? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 39
They SO no care anymore LOL. They just want that MS money to wash their hands from everything. (That and the infinite money of MS to buy any vote in their favor are the reasons why that deal is going to happen yes or yes).
Removed - trolling/baiting
@Tasuki ?????????????
I wanted to like this game, played full two seasons and it’s just not that good. It’s not bad, just not great.
@ztpayne7 Truly two things that have no correlation to one another. The internet is genuinely astounding sometimes.
I know a part of the community doesn't even play the game as they are not shooter fans. People are so engaged with the lore and the characters. They were so excited on the idea of non-competitive PvE and now this?? Actiblizz just does not care anymore
Activision-Blizzard have given up, will not invest in anything that doesn't sell battle passes and/or skins. I'm actually starting to see why they and Microsoft are a great match.
LMAO, imagine going to work and saying, "I wasn't going to do my best today, so I decided to do nothing."
And so it begins
This is why I cannot fathom anybody actually going out and buying Diablo. This is a shell of a company riddled with abuse, shoddy business practices and just downright apathy.
I had to get up for work this morning, it's all Jim Ryan's fault 🙄.
@WaffleDee just spat my morning coffee out😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@nessisonett 100% agree. Part of the handful of companies deserving a reckoning of some sort, but unfortunately also one of the companies with legions of casuals who couldn’t care less about anything beyond a way to pass time gaming.
Well this just means Overwatch 2 is just a scam, hardly any new content and it's main selling point in past trailers was the PvE mode, for me that was the only thing giving it credit to call itself a sequel. Now it's just a scam way of making it free to play and getting more people to pay for MTX via battle passes, and using the PvE mode as an incentive to make more players interested in the game not moan too much about the current lack of differences from the first game.
Wouldn't surprise me if they planned this all along, I wouldn't put anything past this company anymore and will only get worse under Microsoft once their games need that sweet MTX money to be sustainable on gamepass.
@WaffleDee I threw my PS5 out the window and it just decided to break?? Thanks a lot Jim Ryan you *****.
I'm willing to bet PvE was cancelled before Overwatch 2 launched
I thought it would likely end up sucking, and I only play games that I enjoy at the moment, not based on future expectations, so I'm not disappointed.
But it's still a big miss by Blizzard. If they've spent years working on something and still not got it to a fun state, why announce it?
@ztpayne7 nowadays people fail in their exams just because of Jim!
Removed - flaming/arguing; user is banned
Removed - flaming/arguing
Surprising news from the usually reliable and not at all appalling Blizzard.
At this point this is just Overwatch 1.1, I've seen games get more content via free updates than this game, so how they have the nerve to call this a sequel is beyond me.
I didn't know this mode was happening, but please is my favorite, I would have definitely given it a try.
This has nothing to do with the buyout, as the game is F2P it will stay on PS, just like how Destiny 2 is still available with updates on Xbox.
It's not even a sequel anymore. It's just free-to-play Overwatch 1 with a new exclusive patch lol
Is this even the same team that made the first game? Overwatch is falling harder than Halo
My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined
I was immensely disappointed until I thought about how often I would play this mode; once. I think I can live without it if they now put all that effort into balance and features for the game we know Overwatch to be, but that part is in serious doubt
Why is it that every game I get addicted to recently is run by either chimpanzees (Dead by Daylight), people who have no idea what they are doing (Evil Dead), lazy devs in it for the money (Predator) or all of the above (Overwatch)? I miss my FFXIV addiction.
Should've never called it overwatch 2 when its just very few changes and now the highlight being the pve mode is gone too , you dont see Riot calling their game league of legends 2 even though they've made tons of changes to it , cuz they're aware its still the same game.
A free to play game generates more money than games u actually pay for and the whole selling point and the reason for the games existence is not being added cuz they can't manage the resources yeah these people definitely ***** up managing this studio
I remember everyone at my office back in 2016 was playing this. It was a great time that went on for about a good 2 years. After putting in that many hours, I personally don't see myself EVER going back to this game.
Definitely not the Blizzard I grew up with
Like everything MS touches turns to crap, lol
@WaffleDee Did you at least still eat the donut?
@somnambulance I believe alot of them left for various reasons. Some were fired due to the frat boy practices going on and ones like the director for Overwatch Jeff Kaplan left due to the direction Blizzard was going.
Green-Bandit I never started it is better or worse then Overwatch 1. Because why does it even exist with the PVE scrapped?
I’m fine with their approach moving forward. They still have a co-op campaign on the roadmap and I’m okay with it being less Battleborn and more Left 4 Dead.
Damn shame, was looking forward to the story mode.
True Blizzard died when it merged with Activision.
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