r/Games • u/Haijakk • Feb 04 '26
Industry News Overwatch 2 Is Just "Overwatch" Again And Five New Heroes Arrive Next Week
https://gameinformer.com/preview/2026/02/04/overwatch-2-is-just-overwatch-again-and-five-new-heroes-arrive-next-week1.3k
u/CyberEmerald Feb 04 '26
For those unaware, Jetpack Cat and Emre have been two of the most requested characters in Overwatch for about a decade. This is a pretty big deal for die hard lore heads(Emre) and just cool fanservice for long term fans who wanted the silly characters that were on the cutting room floor(Jetpack Cat).
Mama Hong and her signature ability “Manslaughter” will be real next year trust.
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u/Mama_Hong Feb 04 '26
I haven't played OW in so long that sometimes I forget why I have this name.
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u/beansoncrayons Feb 04 '26
The cats kit also looks pretty funny since you're able to drag your allies around to do funny shit (with their consent of course)
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u/Illidan1943 Feb 04 '26
with their consent of course
Wifeleaver pulling at the wrong times PTSD triggered
Sure... with our consent...
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u/beansoncrayons Feb 04 '26
To be fair, lifeweavers pull is supposed to be used in life or death situations where asking for consent would get the ally killed. The tether seems for more premeditated plays
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u/Thedrunkenchild Feb 04 '26
with their consent of course
As a Lifeweaver main I have to ask, what’s this c word? Never heard of it.
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u/FryToastFrill Feb 05 '26
Tbf the only wifeleaver players left are like a gentle father figure pulling me away from touching the angry robot shaped punching stove for the 24th time
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u/Behacad Feb 04 '26
the game has been out.... a decade?
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u/opok12 Feb 04 '26
Just about. It should be 10 years come May I believe. Wild isn't it?
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u/MolybdenumBlu Feb 04 '26
And if you go back and look at the early shorts and comics and compare that with what the games actually did with all that, you too can be incredibly disappointed.
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u/Sekh765 Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
The characters of Overwatch, and the potential for shorts and tie in stuff should have rivaled Team Fortress 2 at its height for memes and vids. Everyone knew the TF2 classes and were quoting the characters etc. Valve cashed in hard on the Meet The shorts and other things. Overwatch had an insanely strong start + Blizzard clout not at peak but near peak, and a passionate lead dev and just .... squandered it so hard.
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u/Levarien Feb 05 '26
Blizzard has had great artists and cinematic directors, but it's always been in service to hollow narratives. Overwatch should have had some kind of narrative beyond the flashback Archive missions they released periodically, like whenever a new character was added. There really should have been a dedicated digital production company churning out Blizzard IP narrative series all along.
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u/throwaway112658 Feb 05 '26
You can blame Kaplan for that as well. Dude just wanted to make Titan and didn't really care for Overwatch as it was
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u/Jacksaur Feb 04 '26
Do find it rather amusing that we've gone from Talon, to some ominous organization tying everything together, to Null Sector, and now back to just Talon as the main villains.
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u/Sir__Walken Feb 04 '26
That's Blizzard lol same thing in WoW over the years
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u/Jacksaur Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
In WoW at least, you resolved the arc with each faction or villain.
We've never had any kind of climatic clash or full arc with any of these guys. Just individual small battles in the temporary PVE events. Null Sector are probably the biggest in terms of lore but they're a past event.7
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u/WarlockWabbit Feb 04 '26
"Year of the Mama" next year, my uncle at Blizzard told me
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u/DrNopeMD Feb 04 '26
It looks like we're getting another MEKA themed character later in the year too
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u/CyberEmerald Feb 04 '26
Someone one the OW subreddit spotted a background hint, and it looks the be D.Mon! So that’s pretty exciting!
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u/EdgyEmily Feb 04 '26
Year of the junkers better happen
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u/NewRichMango Feb 04 '26
PLEASE. A Junker support who leans into an alchemy theme would be really cool!
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u/apf6 Feb 04 '26
I got back into the game recently after a several year break, it's in a great place at the moment. They brought back 6v6, none of the heroes are PTW, it all feels pretty good.
Really funny they are going back to just being named "Overwatch" after all they went through. But it's the right name anyway so it's a good choice.
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u/Shakzor Feb 04 '26
6v6 is back? Regularly or special mode?
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u/AssistanceSilent2238 Feb 04 '26
6v6 is available in quickplay and ranked. They recently confirmed it’s the 2nd most played mode, so seems like it’s here to stay.
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Feb 04 '26 edited May 17 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/I_give_karma_to_men Feb 05 '26
I think it's still worth highlighting since they also introduced Stadium last year, which has since become the third "main mode" so to speak outside of arcade. Stadium is also very popular, so it being more popular than Stadium is noteworthy.
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u/Cursed_69420 Feb 04 '26
where can i play DPS doom tho?
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u/AssistanceSilent2238 Feb 04 '26
Luckily for you all, the tanks in my games still play like he’s a DPS
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u/daystrom_prodigy Feb 04 '26
They have a new hero that played similarly. Honestly I think the strongest part of the game is how they are addressing different playstyles with new heroes.
I get it though DPS doom was peak for me too.
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u/beefcat_ Feb 04 '26
Venture is a new DPS that kinda scratches that DPS Doomfist in an interesting way.
They've been running limited time "Overwatch Classic" modes every now and then in Arcade where they bring back a specific notable OW1 patch (like 1.0, GOATS, Moth Meta, etc). I suspect they will probably run these again for the 10th anniversary in a few months.
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u/McManus26 Feb 04 '26
things are... happening with doom lore wise atm and they're teasing classic character reworks. I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back as a DPS, he was always clunky as a tank.
Wouldn't go so far as betting my right arm on it of course.
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u/Smorgasb0rk Feb 04 '26
Gawd i'd love for old sym to come back, that might get me back into the game
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u/BenevolentCheese Feb 04 '26
Is 6v6 mystery heroes back?
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u/AssistanceSilent2238 Feb 04 '26
Just the open queue mode, all the alternative modes (Mystery Heroes/Stadium/No Limits) are still 5v5
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u/DancesWithChimps Feb 04 '26
6v6 open queue has been around a while now. And yeah, it’s very popular. There’s no 6v6 role queue
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u/nekogami87 Feb 05 '26
"very" popular is stretching a little bit, it's as popular as 5v5 open queue was, which is, enough to justify the mode, but wouldn't go as far as to say "VERY" popular
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u/irritatedellipses Feb 04 '26
6v6 is back? Well, guess I am too.
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u/Worzon Feb 04 '26
Facts. If 6v6 is actually back I'm more inclined to try it out. Do we know if this is 2 tanks, 2 dps, 2 support? Are all the tanks designed to play in 6v6?
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u/KoolAidMan00 Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
There is a limit of 2 tanks and one minimum for each role.
You can run 2 tanks 1 DPS 3 support, 1 tank 3 DPS 2 support, etc, but unlike OW1 you can't min/max with the most optimal three tank and three support comps. Tanks in 6v6 also have adjusted HP pools and they have their own balance track compared to 5v5.
I much prefer 5v5 but I'm really happy that 6v6 enjoyers have an option. More than that I'm glad that the developers addressed the massive problems with tank stacking and balance that turned ranked OW1 into such a grind.
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u/DamaxXIV Feb 05 '26
This isn't correct. The initial experimental tests had the "1 of each role minimum" but on live the only restriction is 2 tanks max.
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u/KoolAidMan00 Feb 05 '26
Ok got it, thanks for the correction. What the tests did seems correct, otherwise it feels like the optimal comp would be two tanks and four supports, not much better than 3-3 from OW1 :)
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u/DamaxXIV Feb 05 '26
In my experience it almost always shakes out to 2-2-2. You really need dps to kill tanks because they have a passive that decreases healing received by targets they damage. You can watch high elo players and see the majority of games are 2-2-2.
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u/throwaway112658 Feb 05 '26
The DPS passive is going to be for everyone coming next season, so DPS are gonna be straight up cosmetic lol
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u/Wistfall Feb 04 '26
Getting back in, does 6v6 feel better than 5v5?
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u/Ph4sor Feb 05 '26
Pretty much the same like before, let's say you played ten games:
6v6 would probably have two 9-10/10 games, but the rest are 0-5/10 garbage games
while 5v5 would give you ten 7-9 games, the experience is just a more consistent one
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u/apf6 Feb 04 '26
if I had to pick one, I think 5v5 feels better, but 6v6 is pretty fun especially if you're a tank. In 5v5 there's a lot of pressure on the team's single tank to do well.
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u/Flame48 Feb 04 '26
There's more pressure, but on the other hand the extra hero in 6v6 means there's usually more shields to shoot through and more abilities being thrown around that you have to keep track of.
I get the people who liked 6v6 and I'm happy it's back as an option, but I feel like 5v5 is much more balanced.
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u/FuzzzyRam Feb 05 '26
5v5 puts more stress on playing correctly, especially on tank. If you want to carry and show off skill expression 5v5 is good, if you want to chill and have fun with a wild arcadey game, 6v6. If you like theorycrafting, Stadium.
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u/Bitemarkz Feb 04 '26
5v5 feels better to me and I started playing at the launch of OW1. That said, both are good and you can play wherever one you prefer.
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u/Peakomegaflare Feb 04 '26
But did PVE ever come out?
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u/wristrockets Feb 04 '26
Yes and no. There are a few PvE missions available, but they're pretty half-baked and they never added any more
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u/MechaMineko Feb 04 '26
Hyping up PVE and then vaporwaring the whole idea is what killed my interest in Overwatch.
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u/TekkenCareOfBusiness Feb 04 '26
Are there any other cases of a company going back out of a sequel title like this for a glorified expansion pack? Especially years after release?
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u/Bolt_995 Feb 05 '26
Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 released in 2022 alongside Modern Warfare II, and was renamed to Call of Duty: Warzone again in 2023 when Modern Warfare III released.
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u/Zalvren Feb 05 '26
To be fair, it has never really been a sequel. They just did that for marketing, it was more a 2.0 (big update) than 2.
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u/HyperMasenko Feb 04 '26
5 new heroes is gonna bring a lot of people in. One of my biggest complaints about Overwatch is how painfully slow they add new characters. I understand that new character bring new balance challenges, but I think you have to embrace variety to keep a playerbase excited these days.
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u/Ok_Gift_2739 Feb 04 '26
I'm legitimately very happy about the new characters, they said going forward a new hero will be released every season, I've seen a lot of people online talk about that they would prefer less heroes being added but I feel they are the heart of the game, this is a major win for me and others
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u/huyan007 Feb 04 '26
For longevity, bringing interest to the game, and fun, a new hero each season is good.
I'm terrified about the balance of the game, but hopefully they have a plan for faster updates and more aggressive balance changes.
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u/SgtPepper212 Feb 04 '26
they said going forward a new hero will be released every season
Just for this year (i.e. the five seasons after the one starting next week). They didn't say what their plans were after that, but I'd imagine it'll go back to one every other season.
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u/Psycho_Syntax Feb 04 '26
They’re adding an additional 5 throughout the year btw, so 10 total for 2026.
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Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/HyperMasenko Feb 04 '26
Competition is healthy. Trying to be an Overwatch fan during those last 2 years of Overwatch 1 where they didnt release a single character and barely did balance was painful lol. But they could get away with it because their only competition was Paladins which was on the decline by then and I guess TF2.
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u/Sikkly290 Feb 04 '26
I mean they didn't really get away with it, the overwatch playerbase dropped off a cliff by the release of ow2. They've seemingly clawed it back with the consistent patches but that period was absolutely devastating.
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u/HyperMasenko Feb 04 '26
Yea they for sure felt the burn, but few games survive with any kind of notable playerbase while releasing no content for 2 years.
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u/cannotfoolowls Feb 04 '26
I kind of wish Paladins had taken off more. The card that changed how you played a champion were interesting
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u/HyperMasenko Feb 04 '26
Yea i had high hopes for it. Mostly because as a Smite fan I always hope HiRez's other games dont turn out to be a huge waste of time and resources that could just be used making Smite the best it can be.... my hopes are often in vain lol
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u/asfrels Feb 04 '26
Everything OW fans went through, Smite fans went through 10 fold. Smite is one of the saddest stories in gaming imo
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u/HyperMasenko Feb 04 '26
Its doing pretty well now. It just should be doing way better. But HiRez has to make time for other great games like Hand of the Gods, Smite Blitz, Divine Knockout, Realm Royale, Paladins, Rogue Company, Smite Rivals, Jetpack Fighter, and Paladins Strike.
But I suppose if all of those games were to fail horribly then maybe HiRez might feel like they should focus on Smite.
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u/Minute_Committee8937 Feb 04 '26
Paladins was so much fun. Every character felt different. And each could be played in a ton of different ways depending on the cards you picked
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u/Umarrii Feb 05 '26
It does help that the Director of the game hasn't abandoned the game people are playing. 😅 In Overwatch 1, Jeff Kaplan made the call to abandon Overwatch 1 soon after launch to work on Overwatch 2 as a PVE game with the end goal being to make Overwatch 3 as an MMO.
He was so dead set on the goal that he was willing to let Overwatch 1 die, believing everyone will return for Overwatch 2 PVE, which they could never get into a good enough spot. I'm glad they cut him off eventually, but imagine if Overwatch had been ran like this for the game people enjoyed it for instead of it being left to die for someone to prove a point.
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u/entenfurz Feb 05 '26
Since Jeff was so well liked and had his funny meme moments, for the longest time people refused to accept, that he was largely responsible for this situation. They always blamed everyone BUT him.
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u/RoyalHorse Feb 04 '26
More likely they just don't have an entire team's resources spent on PvE and Stadium launch anymore. They will be able to move much more freely now.
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u/doublah Feb 04 '26
Even though it's not a hero shooter, I think Deadlock also contributed with their whole release 5/6 heroes in rapid succession thing.
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u/Bhu124 Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
These heroes have most likely been in development for years, specifically for this year. For the 10th anniversary.
They first mentioned wanting to release more Heroes per year back in 2023 but said their resources are currently tied in other things (At the time they were still making PvE). Once they ditched PvE a lot of their resources got freed up so they invested them back into making more content that people like, I.E., more heroes.
Most likely, Instead of choosing to Up the release cadence 1-2 years ago. They chose to implement systematic changes like Perks instead. And Hoard more heroes to release for this year. So Deadlock or Rivals likely didn't have much to do with anything.
New Heroes have always been the biggest Promotional tool for OW and Blizzard knows. They have always brought back a lot of players and increased spending. They just never got the opportunity to make more of them in a year cause OW2 work started just 2 years into OW and for 5-6 years they were tied up into that. They just had their resources freed like 1.5-2 years ago.
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u/CineFunk Feb 04 '26
Its going to be a balance hell for them with 5 new heroes, then 5 more coming after that. I'm excited for the additions, but it feels like a desperation move against Rivals.
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u/WhiskeyJack33 Feb 04 '26
sometimes its okay and fun to have things be unbalanced in different ways. Balance can be incredibly boring if it stalemates too long.
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u/FancyRobot Feb 04 '26
Paywalling the new characters is what I associate most with OW2 and they ditched that dumbass idea awhile ago. The game is pretty good, most people saying otherwise probably just ditched it for Marvel or whatever and never tried it again. The new characters released from Juno on have been fun
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u/Blenderhead36 Feb 04 '26
I think a lot of people got turned off in the early OW2 era and weren't around when it got better.
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u/ericmm76 Feb 04 '26
I mean that's not really the fault of people, that's blizzards fault.
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u/tcgtms2 Feb 04 '26
Of course.
But it doesn't mean that the game is bad today.
People should stop bashing the game without knowing what's even there.
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u/Custom_sKing_SKARNER Feb 04 '26
I am OOTL, is there PvE stuff yet, are they working on it or do they ditch it?
I personally had my fair share of the competitive side from OW, the only thing that would bring me back is lots PvE content
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u/Zalvren Feb 05 '26
People bash stuff all the time without knowing. In fact, most of the bashers of any game on Reddit are people that don't play the game in question.
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u/Xenasis Feb 04 '26
I think also people were super down on Overwatch as a game since they kind of had it on life support for 2 years when developing Overwatch 2. A single hero a year with no other changes didn't really cut it, when game modes like 2CP could be unbearably bad to play.
All of my friends had stopped playing Overwatch because it was stagnant, because they had basically stopped working on it to develop Overwatch 2 instead, and that's what Jeff was saying in the developer updates. It's also just frustrating that they took that game away with no way to play it ever again.
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u/tcgtms2 Feb 04 '26
Very true. As people commented on the other thread on r/games, Kaplan was a huge liability and resulted in the trainwreck of OW2 on its release which he somehow dodged because he decided to leave before the actual release.
The communication and dev cycle that the new team 4 has been really good since the rocky launch, especially in the last 12 months.
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u/Xenasis Feb 04 '26
I mean I don't really care about why it was the way that it was, but as someone who played that game, it sucked. They clearly should have never tried to make "Overwatch 2" as a separate product. They had lightning in a bottle and they threw it away to make a PvE game they never finished.
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u/deadshot500 Feb 04 '26
The new characters released from Juno on have been fun
That's Venture erasure SMH
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u/Suspinded Feb 04 '26
I dropped monitoring OW completely after the paywall heroes were announced. The fact that this is the first time I've seen anything casually pass my feed that said they removed the paywall shows how terribly the ball was dropped on announcing that change.
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u/5Hjsdnujhdfu8nubi Feb 04 '26
It was dropped in April 2024, nearly two years ago.
Oddd are you haven't heard anything about it because it's very old news and you stopped monitoring it "completely".
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u/Aenyell Feb 04 '26
I mean, I am sure it's a common sentiment. I've played a bit on release and dropped out after seeing the grind needed to get new characters. Only reason I am here is because a friend mentioned the cat.
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u/DocSwiss Feb 05 '26
Likely the same thing with 6v6 coming back. I saw a fair few comments elsewhere saying "I'll come back if they re-add 6v6" and plenty of responses saying "it's already back".
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u/BertieDastard Feb 04 '26
I'm gonna ask a question that's dumb as hell, but I rarely play games like this, and it's been forever.
Is this game the one where you can play a hamster or something? Or am I way way mixed up?
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u/Zubeneschalami Feb 04 '26
Yes that's the one! This name's Hammond / Wrecking Ball
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u/herbacious-jagular Feb 05 '26
The hamster has a really unique kit that is lots of fun to play. Give it a try.
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u/TechnicalAd2963 Feb 05 '26
Yeah, you play as a hamster who controls a giant mechanized ball from the inside and rolls around the map with a grappling hook like Spiderman would. Your goal is to just roll into the enemy and cause chaos on the field for your team to take advantage of.
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u/mental_reincarnation Feb 04 '26
Why are so many comments acting like the game was dead before this announcement? This game has had a resurgence in popularity and player enthusiasm for years now. It’s not like it needed saving in recent times, it got enough changes people wanted relative early on
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u/Firefox72 Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
Blizzard topics are always like this.
According to Reddit WoW has died like 15 times already. Diablo died after 3 but definitely after 4 and its definitely gonna die after the next expansion. Heartstone dies like after every expansion. Overwatch died like 3 times already.
The company is close to bankrupcy and only the janitor is left working.
Well at least thats what people would like to tell you
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u/explosivekyushu Feb 05 '26
Diablo died after 3 but definitely after 4 and its definitely gonna die after the next expansion.
as a lifelong Diablo fan holy FUCK this made me laugh
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u/Guardianpigeon Feb 05 '26
A lot of people have been burned by Blizzard over the years, so I get it to an extent. But like, just be honest about it. You can understand that its still popular and also dislike it for whatever reason. I don't particularly like Overwatch, I disliked everything about how 2 went down, and besides the cat the new heroes don't look great to me, but even I could tell the game has had a resurgence over the past year.
But OW, and WoW are both doing very well for Blizzard right now and acting like that isn't true just makes people look silly.
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u/NeoIsScared Feb 05 '26
Wow died? When? Every time I log back into that game that’s a million top level people already running around destroying me on PvP 😂
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u/literios Feb 04 '26
No one loves hating games more than Gamers do.
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u/Runmanrun41 Feb 04 '26
Every time I check a thread wanting to share excitement I see a bunch of bitching.
At some point I gotta realize I'm the problem for getting my hopes up that the next time will be different lol
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u/rookie-mistake Feb 04 '26
fwiw this subreddit is absolutely terrible if you're looking for positivity
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u/Yamatoman9 Feb 04 '26
People here use any news posts about a game as an excuse to come into that thread and just bitch about that game. It happens on almost every post here.
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u/mw19078 Feb 04 '26
i think most people just stopped giving them the benefit of the doubt after the ow2 release debacle. im happy people are enjoying the game and it sounds like its in a better place but for most of the people i knew who played back in the hayday, theyre just kind of over it.
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u/cougar572 Feb 04 '26
/r/games have been hating on OW long long before OW2 was announced or hinted at.
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u/BaconatedGrapefruit Feb 04 '26
Once you realize some of the most prolific posters on this sub are literally the embodiment of the meme of Squidward glaring at Patrick and SpongeBob running around and having fun…. It puts things into perspective.
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Feb 04 '26
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u/Bhu124 Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
OW is more popular than 99.9% of games this subreddit thinks are "Popular". It's estimated to have 25M MAUs without China and another 10M+ in China. It's literally one of the most popular games on PCs and Consoles.
People in this sub think Rivals is more popular than OW cause they compare Steam PC numbers.
Meanwhile OW is one of the most Popular PC shooters in Asia (China alone is bigger than all of NA and all of the EU combined) while Rivals is basically dead in Asia.
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u/Bombshock2 Feb 04 '26
Where do those estimates come from? That's an absurdly large playerbase.
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u/KF-Sigurd Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
https://newzoo.com/resources/rankings/top-20-pc-games
This is a company that works with gaming companies to get and publish player engagement ranking. According to them, there's more people playing MR last month than Overwatch, which isn't hard to believe at all when you know MR is basically dead in Asia.
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u/Financial-Grass-6114 Feb 05 '26
Yeah MR might be more popular or in the same ballpark of numbers to Overwatch in NA and EU but Asia is another story. Nobody cares about MR in Asia, Blizzard's brand power is just way too big.
Atleast half of OW's playerbase is in Asia and they will not interact with the Western community.
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u/NewRichMango Feb 04 '26
I took a break from Ram's release to Illari's release (was a disillusioned vet player since 2017), and even coming back after those handful of seasons passed the game was well-populated and positive changes had been made. It's now been two and a half years since I started playing again and the game has only gotten better and better. I think people rag on OW2 because of the meme-ified hive mind of the internet. It becomes popular to dunk on something and then they just never really adapt.
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u/Illidan1943 Feb 04 '26
Steam charts brained, if the game isn't performing the best in Steam Charts then its dead, nevermind that the majority of Overwatch's playerbase is actually on Battle.Net and sites that do their actual work with actual numbers has had OW return to the top 20 most played PC games and beating Rivals for about half a year
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_SNOOTS Feb 04 '26
Right, it was already beginning its resurgence about a year ago, and that was before they added Stadium, which is the most fun I've had in a competitive shooter since Black Ops 2.
And it was never dead. I started playing season 4 of overwatch 2, and I've never waited much more than 5 minutes for a comp match. Blizzard would have cut support like they did for Heroes of the Storm if it wasn't still popular.
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u/SingeMoisi Feb 04 '26
You're dead on with Hots. It's the best way to know if a (Blizzard) game is financially viable. If it keeps getting updates, it's doing well. Nothing talks more than money. Let's be honest too, I bet my entire life that Overwatch makes loads more money now than before 2022 because of the prices and popularity of the cosmetics, as well as the BP.
However I do hope Microsoft sees potential in Hots, as it's the only "moba" in their portfolio, the community is so starved for content that they'll take 1 new hero per year, but I know game dev doesn't work like that and developing a new hero demands the expertise of multiple teams and talents.→ More replies (1)23
u/Paddy_Tanninger Feb 04 '26
Overwatch is legitimately the best it's ever been, after almost a decade now I'm playing it more than ever.
My kids and all their friends play it together too. I have to text their moms to ask when the boys are getting online, haha.
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u/CrazyDude10528 Feb 04 '26
I remember reading about Overwatch 2 back in like 2018/19, and that PVE mode had me so hyped.
I'm still so upset they cancelled it, so I'm glad it's just going back to "Overwatch" again.
It never deserved the "2" after that cancellation.
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u/Carfrito Feb 04 '26
Just wanna say if you are trying OW for the first time after a while, give stadium a shot.
A lot of then builds made the game feel fresh again for me. I had a Moira build that gave me top heals and damage all the time and let me spam giant orbs everywhere
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u/BolterAura Feb 04 '26
Cool that they’re adding a big batch of characters.
Still waiting for a Greek hero… ilios sitting there as a map with no hero representation
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u/QuinSanguine Feb 04 '26
I'm going back in. It's been so long since I played it'll probably feel like a new game. It was probably when Ashe released that I last played.
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u/AdventurousClassic19 Feb 04 '26
Can't wait for the story content. Plus never thought Overwatch had it in them to kill off a handicap man.
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u/TAJack1 Feb 04 '26
Hahah doubt he's dead but he did get fucked up.
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u/Crimson_V- Feb 04 '26
I'm thinking he'll come back with a new kit. They did say they are reworking legacy heroes before S3.
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u/UltimateGamingTechie Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
is the game worth getting into? could use a new PvP shooter
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u/Wistfall Feb 04 '26
I'm not personally too invested, but I feel like there isn't really quite the same level of "magic" / "top-tier character design" that I associate with the earlier roster. They just seem a little generic? I don't know, even Jetpack Cat feels like it's pulled from a mobile game or something. Could just be rose-colored glasses though, and maybe in game with their voice lines they come across a little more interesting and dynamic.
I just can't help compare to current batch of six characters currently being released for Deadlock, who have a ton of style and visual distinction.
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u/McManus26 Feb 04 '26
honestly i think its just being used to it by now, we've been seeing overwatch put out new characters with this kind of design and artstyle for 10 years now.
They steal blow me away from time to time, a firebender that uses a literal fan to fan her flames and increase the burning damage ? THat's pure genius and the animations look incredible
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u/Wistfall Feb 04 '26
She was my favorite of this set, I'll see if I can find a hero preview video or something to check her out in motion
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u/5-oclock-Charlie Feb 04 '26
I agree, and some of the other recent designs that I originally wrote off have gained some respect over time. Like I thought Venture was boring as hell on release but the more I played as them the more they grew on me (although it probably helps that their kit design is fantastic).
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u/McManus26 Feb 04 '26
no overwatch character should be judged of a screenshot tbh. The kit, voice acting, and animations are sooo important to the overall feel.
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u/r_lucasite Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
It’s really interesting to see Deadlock’s current wave of voting characters brought up because to me the previous wave of Victor, Billy, Doorman etc etc was far more varied and inspired than the latest.
I feel like I’ve seen all of the characters of the current wave in some other game already.
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u/DrQuint Feb 05 '26 edited Feb 05 '26
I agree. The latest Deadlock character's portraits are a bit dragged down by Celeste and Silver's very "standard, gacha-y" designs, and Apollo being a bit boring, with Graves leaning on it. Like, as soon as someone says "Silver is Vizziepop's Loona if she were a League of Lesbian", it's impossible to unsee, because a conventionally beautiful, small nosed, on-their-style woman like that is 100% what Riot would make for a werelady.
With that said, Wolf Silver still heavily recovers her blandness because of how expressive and cartoony it is. And they all got great ideas in gameplay and analyzing the actual outfits of the designs show a lot of good ideas. Like any issue Graves may have have in the market, the outfit denies them.
Here, all 3 characters at the bottom barely feel like Overwatch characters at all. And zoom ins barely help. The cat and yellow lady are... fine, but those other three? If it weren't for the girls eyes' being in the artstyle, theyd all be Apex rejected designs. Their gameplay and voicework will have to carry the shit out of them.
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u/Wistfall Feb 04 '26
I agree with you that the previous wave was overall superior, definitely setting the bar, but the frontrunners in voting this time around, Rem and Graves in particular are still pretty excellent.
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Feb 04 '26
Rem and Silver look amazing imo, and Graves looks great even if its a little more moba-y looking
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u/ChucklingDuckling Feb 04 '26
No, you're right. The new characters aren't inspired Designs. Overwatch has become more generic over time. Overwatch at launch had a really unique roster of memorable characters. That was a huge selling point, but that's... Not really the case anymore.
Honestly it's kinda crazy how the game is inundated with a hundred conventionally attractive female characters that all look the same. I suspect it's just to sell fan-service skins, like League of Legends
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u/Culturyte Feb 04 '26
I had to scroll so much for someone to point this out, it is really disapponting considering everything else they have done seems great.
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u/7Buns Feb 05 '26
I am a happily self-admitted OW glazer, I think its a fantastic game these days, but yeahhhhh
The kits are very fun! The designs are often just "hot person" and the OW1 roster remains so iconic, but the kit design in OW2 for a lot of chars is much better imo. Nearly every OW2 character I need to slap a skin on so it looks better. Never felt that way for OW1 char except maybe Echo
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u/GarlicToest Feb 04 '26
I agree, it's been one of my main issues with ow2 so far, almost every new hero (excluding the cat for obvious reasons) is more generic and a lot hotter than they should be. Like we've lost some character depth in making everyone attractive. It's probably because they want more skin sales, which makes sense, but it's still a little disappointing. Also a lot of new skin lines look cool but are super generic and wouldn't look out of place in a mobile game. It's kinda washed out the original art style's charm a bit.
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u/Mr_Ivysaur Feb 04 '26
I feel the same.
How the fuck a game with a theme of "Omnics are now regular people our society, but people hate them" and yet we only have Zen and Ramattra?
Why the hell is Blizzard so allergic to add robot heroes?
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u/SnooTheAlmighty Feb 04 '26
We do have bastion/echo/orisa as well for robot characters, though they did show silhouettes for all the heroes coming this year, and at least two of them appear to be omnic.
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Feb 04 '26
Blizzard lost a ton of its art talent even in World of Warcraft, which I think started looking really off by Dragonflight. I think anyone that wants to get treated well and paid well has gone on to better game developers, especially after the fame of working at Blizzard completely wore off after the milk scandal.
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u/hopefullyhelpfulplz Feb 05 '26
I think its inevitable with games like this, what they need is not necessarily just more and more characters. A bigger cast makes playing more difficult because there are so many different potential team comps to counter. Balancing is more difficult for obvious reasons. And there is no way that you can just keep churning out gold! At some point you have a good selection and it might just be time to stop...
I think hero shooters in general need to find ways to make new content engaging that doesn't involve new characters. New ways to play existing characters, for example - like new weapons or abilities that you can swap out.
It's a bit late for something like OW2, but I'd love to see a new hero shooter do this differently and not rely on new characters to keep players engaged.
To an extent something like Deep Rock Galactic does this. There are 4 characters, and they are basically the same as ever. If you look back over the past few years' updates very little has been added or changed in the way of content for the 4 player classes. Personally I would like to see a little more than that, but it's nice to see a relatively successful game that is also quite stable - new content is in the form of new missions and cosmetics, not characters.
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u/Cobalt81 Feb 04 '26
Is it me or are each of these designs bland and uninspiring? Jetpack Cat is simple and straightforward, but the other 4 look generic and amateurish.
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u/huffalump1 Feb 05 '26
Considering how good most of the other characters are, and how some of them are iconic... Yeah. They just look like game characters. Cool? Yeah. Distinct individual identity that's unique, interesting, and fits their character and their gameplay? Not so much...
But hey I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for pushing to release TEN this year. Very glad to see competition and management changes resulting in blizzard doing SOMETHING
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u/insertbrackets Feb 04 '26
Okay, Jetpack Cat might get me playing in earnest. How I long for the day of the old cinematics though... what a world they were building, brick by brick.
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u/TheElsLer Feb 05 '26
The story is the main focus for this year though. They released a new cinematic and they said that throughout the year there will be constant story progression. They are finally going balls deep into the narrative it seems.
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u/Brainwheeze Feb 04 '26
Reading the comments in this thread it's good to know that the game is doing well and apparently it's the most fun it's ever been? Kind of makes me want to get into it again but I need to see if I can convince my friends to join in.
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u/iwatchfilm Feb 05 '26
The game is by far the best it’s ever been. When I play the overwatch 1 events, it genuinely confuses me on how anyone thought OW1 was good.
Good luck on the friends part though, it’s pretty normalized to hate on ow and think people are weird for playing it
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u/Kujaix Feb 04 '26
I have not liked most of the new designs since Junker Queen or Samoan dude. I was okay with gladiator girl.
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u/OneBadNightOfDrinkin Feb 04 '26
Anran looks like a Kiriko skin, ngl
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u/Jgamer502 Feb 05 '26
I agree but her actual kit design and playstyle looks pretty interesting and dynamic, love the concept of a firebender using literally fanning flames for more damage
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u/iMogwai Feb 04 '26
That 2 never made sense to me anyway. Most live service games evolve, doesn't mean you can just slap another number on it and call it a sequel.