Blizzard Insists Overwatch 2's In 'Best State It's Ever Been' as Review Bombing Continues

While he's not lying, the way he put it screams PR Talk. I'm just sad for what this game could've been. Still playing though

Good thing I'm not into blizzard games. They sure like to screw over their fanbase.
F for all the fans out there.

Its like they actually believe the BS they say. OW is more or less dead now and its all thanks to dumb greedy choices.

Blizzard is a joke and a shell of what they once were.

Whilst i'll admit that activision/blizzard have not painted themselves in the most positive of ways as of late and have opened the flood gates for people to throw abuse at them lets not forget all the money that they have donated to charitys all over the world too. $12.8 million to breast cancer research being the one that stands out to me personaly. The veterans charity benefited from the call of duty events and lets not forget the world of warcraft charity which raised a shed tonne of cash for animals in distress. If we are going to bash them for scummy,predatory cash grab business models then fine but at least recognise the good they have done too. Maybe pushsquare could publish an article about all game companys that set up and donate funds to charitys etc instead of the usual click bait ones that only breed negativity.

Haters can hate, but it's not coming from a place of reason. This game has not fundamentally changed from Overwatch 1, a critically acclaimed game of the year in 2016. The difference between then and now is the addition of a handful of heroes and maps, and also a lot of nice features and game modes. It's sad but true- this is not a sequel, even if they slap a number on it. Of course it is frustrating for devs to show progress on a PvE mode and reneg, but the review bombing is ridiculous, as per usual. This game is still an amazing multiplayer experience!

Reading online discourse about this makes it so obvious who actually plays Overwatch lol. They just put out an update that's got more content than the base Overwatch 2 had. Absolutely fantastic stuff. Not everything's a hit in it (Flashpoint isn't very fun in my opinion) but this season seriously feels like they're swinging for the fences. New character's great, PVE is really fun (although the lack of skill trees obviously stings) and the game is just in a better state than it's ever been. They're turning it all around right now, pulling a No Man's Sky, but everyone's obsessed with the "Overwatch bad" narrative right now that they forgot to actually look at the game.

Blizzard sucks, without a doubt. The monetization is yuck. But being a player of Overwatch is GREAT right now.

@Northern_munkey I mean, sure. But $12.8 million was 0.711% of their operating cash the year they did that (2018).

That's like the average American giving away roughly $450 (based on median household income in that same year). That's... not a lot.

Especially since we also know about all the ***** behind the scenes that was going on during that time at Activision/Blizzard.

The old blizzard is dead, most of the key people already leaving the company, what we have is just a corpse of corporation in name only. Even though it seems they make a good game (diablo 4), they will make something to f it up.

@MFTWrecks ok its a very small percentage granted but its something. I'm not saying they are a really good company and we all know their short comings etc,etc but nobody mentions the good things that they actually do. In fact its far easier to sling mud at companys when gamers dont agree with decisions being made than it is to sit there and type something positive. I'll get more negative comments from people who will only see me as "pro activision/blizzard" and not actually understand the point i'm trying to make. Activision/blizzard must do better agreed but i can not just shrug off the donations they contribute however small either.

When the bar is so low, anything seems like a improvement.

Look at blizzard jr, gonna cry?

@Northern_munkey This sounds like defending an oil company because they pay another company to “plant trees”. Every single company has a charitable program, it’s part of PR. That doesn’t mean they’re a good company. Why should people mention the good things when it doesn’t really tell us anything about them beyond they’re a modern company when it comes to charity?

Was an avid player of Overwatch but I played less than a couple of hours of Overwatch 2. They let Overwatch 1 rot away for years with little to no additions beyond quarterly skins. Me and friends all put that down to the sequel being worked on and the frustration was simply that it was taking too long. I don't think any of us thought it would be bad. So when it dropped and the reveal was it's the same game as before but worse, it's the same game but skins are now behind battle passes. Collectively the game felt dead on arrival. Nothing to get excited about, all the new promised features missing and what was new was just price gouging skins and battle passes.

Greed killed the game. Pure greed. Asking insane prices for what was once free and expecting people to be excited for that. Lunacy.

@ShadowofSparta if i was defending them then yes it would. But i'm not 👍

1. There is absolutely no reason for Overwatch "2" to exist. It does nothing that Overwatch 1 couldn't do. Except for pushing predatory monetization up the Player's throats.
2. They promised the PvE content waaaaaaay before launch of the game, and they only "canceled" it a few weeks after. (They also already knew before launch it was going to be cancelled)
3. Looking at other Blizzard releases (Diablo 4, Immortals, WoW), this company is going down the drain faster than MS is able to buy them.

@Northern_munkey So they treat their employees abysmillally, are dreadfully mysoginistic and engage in the type of preditory practices that are ruining gaming, but we should cut them some slack because they take a tax break on some charitable donnations like all the other companies?
Thats the worst, least thought out take Ive ever read from you or anyone else, and clearly shows I had you completely wrong. Being an appologist for such behaviour simply encourages it.

Overwatch 2 is essentially the first game with more monetisation and none of the new promised features. Its clearly a cash grab.

Getting bad reviews doesn't automatically mean it's a review bombing.

Remove the criminal monetization and make it a paid game with PVE.

@Northern_munkey

Problem is, the charity donations are almost always used to allow for tax write offs and other such nonsense for bigger companies. Money indeed went to good causes at least but doesn’t particularly indicate the company means well as a net whole, coupled with it being negligible compared to their net income and it’s not really a legitimate balancer

He’s not wrong that the game is in a really good place in some ways - new content, good balance. But it’s so easy to see why he’s responding to PvE complaints and not the other biggest complaint: monetization.

With PvE, you can say “sorry guys, we know we screwed up but we have to move on.” The monetization is an ongoing choice that blizzard makes every day and isn’t going anywhere. Would love to see them find a way to be profitable without treating community positivity as a sunk cost, but it’s hard to imagine them doing anything that could earn good will at the cost of a few dollars.

@Titntin first of i'm not defending them or saying they are great. The donations they make go to excellent causes especially breast cancer research so why is that so bad for me to speak up for? I am not extolling their working practices or how they treat their staff. I am not defending the monetisation of their games as i have mentioned numerous times how much i dont like the d4 battle pass structure. I respect your honesty in your reply to me and i'll take it as constructive criticism but i can not lie and just jump on the hate band wagon when i see the donations they make as a positive and i'm being honest. If you had me pegged as somebody who wont speak my mind regardless of how i'm seen then i'm sorry to disappoint. Lets just agree to disagree on this as i honestly value your opinion which is why i took the time and thought this response through. Sorry if i offended you.

@Northern_munkey
Not offended, but suprised.
"why is that so bad for me to speak up for?" Because its in the wrong place. Unless posted somewhere where we are comparing the inevitable good charitable donations from all games companies do, then its clearly offered as some kind of 'balance' for their disgusting behaviour to their staff, and the preditory monetisation of their games. Donations to charity are to be applauded, but in no way excuse the behaviours that have lead to the current steam issues. Mentioning them at all in an article which has nothing to do with them, appears to be 'whitewashing' Blizzards behaviour.
I decided I would never buy another Blizzard game once their behaviour was unearthed and confirmed, and have stuck to that, regardless of couch co op on Diablo 3 with my wife being such a happy memory. Everyone makes their own choices of course, and I dont pretend my choice makes any difference. But I wont allow people to try and whitewash Blizzards behaviour without having my say, however ineffective, and in that respect we remain very alike, we are both happy to offer our thoughts on gaming matters 😀
Ultimately, we are both older game heads (Im 59 today, wahoo?) who live on the south west coast and play bass. We have far more in common than a difference in opinion over Blizzard can ever remove!

@Constable_What Maybe all at once. But plenty give little by little to churches every week, charities at the holidays, etc.

@Northern_munkey No, I get the point you're trying to make. But let's not act like the good they do couldn't be improved 10 fold if they were pro-union, and/or paid their thousands of employees better wages. The "good" done to and through the economy by way of all that capital would arguably have much a bigger impact. And they could STILL afford to give millions to the charities of their choosing.

@Northern_munkey 100%, well said. Look i am a decent person to ask about Blizzard. They happen to be still to this day my favorite in the industry. Now are they the Blizzard i fell in love with in the StarCraft, Diablo 2, World of Warcraft launch day’s? No, but Diablo 4 is the most fun i have had in gaming in a long long time. Thats not so much a complement to blizzard as it is a knock on most dev’s not doing a lot of WOW factor in years. Even God of War Rag which was my most excited for title let me down a little. It wasn’t the 10/10 i had thought it be. I gave it a 8. Overwatch needs a HUGE revamping in the 3rd game. This is still a great game if you have a good team that knows how to play their character well and how to be a teammate. Problem is that’s like 1 in 100 matches random online. The internet arguing and false narratives have damaged the industry a lot and in some cases the studios have done badly in key areas that hurt’s the industry as well. At the end of the day the video game industry is like giving a 18 year old athlete 200 million dollars and expect him to act mature and not be a kid. This industry makes a lot of money for people that still treat the industry as just a games business and not something more professional and mature at times. Not saying all but many. There’s a reason the video game industry get’s a bad name and it would be a lot nicer if they all worked towards making it better. That is why i am more than happy to see ABK be a MS company. The work environment there is far more professional than what they had. MS like them or dislike them are rated one of the best places to work on planet earth.

So they have officially become one of those arrogant and out of touch companies that says things like "no, the people are wrong, we know what everyone should like, not our fans."

Well good luck with that Blizzard.

@Perturbator Yeah I am sick and tired of these awful companies trying to call every instance of public criticism "review bombing." It's become an excuse for them to brush off legitimate criticisms and dismiss an outraged fanbase.

@Titntin happy birthday👍

Review "bombing" (well deserved) aside, the game is not in its best state ever, and they can that and their $26 skins, and take a hike.
With this and how fast Diablo went into the dumps after they did the "smooth launch, bad stuff later" scam, it's sad to see what has happened to Blizzard.

I'm trying not to hate the game, but I genuinely don't think that people still play it. Their rebranding to overwatch 2 worked for around 3 months then player base probably dropped back where it was. My friend played it for 18 hours in first week, then never again since. I assume that's how it went for most of the players. I didn't try it tho, and not planning on. I also didn't see appeal for destiny 2 but I did like Paragon moba.. so maybe I just don't have the mutual taste with community

Scummy devs lying about pve story just to bring it back in drip feed and charge people for it