Back when Overwatch 2 was announced in 2019, Blizzard made big promises about expanded PvE content. It was something that had been in great demand, after the various events in Overwatch, where players could work together on missions against AI enemies.
The promised system should give a better insight into the background that is in the Overwatch universe, and which only appears in a very limited way in the normal part of the game. The promise was that there would be great replay value in the PvE part, and there would be the possibility of character development over time through e.g. skilltrees, etc.
However, all that was apparently put on hold back in March. The announcement at the time was that the team behind the game feared that it would go beyond the content that is continuously released for the regular online PvP part of the game. These are things like new maps and heroes you can play.
So instead of expanding the development team, which many believe a company like Blizzard should be able to afford, the promises of a well-developed and broad PvE part of the game were put on ice. All plans for skilltree etc were scrapped.
Instead, the focus will be on individual Story Missions, which we have experienced at previous events with Overwatch. The first three of the missions set on the Rio de Janeiro, Toronto and Gothenburg maps in the game are set to launch with Season 6, Invasion Season, which lands next month. Access to the new missions will be free... to begin with.
Because if you want to have permanent access to them, then you have to dig deep and buy the upcoming Invasion Bundle, which is announced with a price of 15$. So instead of delivering on the original promises of lots of PvE content for the game, there has been a switch to a very limited selection of PvE missions. Someone that you also have to pay extra to get access to.
It's perhaps fair enough, considering that Overwatch 2 is Free to Play after all, but it still leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth if you hold it up to the original promises from the team. It only becomes even more pronounced when you look at the fact that Blizzard alone in the last three months of 2022 raised around 100 million dollars home on Overwatch 2... A Free to Play game.
With that kind of revenue, you'd think it was worth putting money into keeping the promises you originally made for the game, rather than padding the bottom line.
As a cherry on top, it also doesn't seem that Overwatch 2 players can look forward to more Story Missions until 2024 at the earliest. Here's the explanation from Jared Neuss, Executive Producer at Blizzard, that they will make adjustments based on feedback on the previous content for the game.
As a small plaster on the wound, we can soon look forward to an animated Overwatch miniseries. It will tell the story of the creation of Overwatch and The Omnic Crisis. The first episode premieres on YouTube tomorrow, July 6, and will be followed by two more episodes at a later date.