Citing it being a ‘difficult choice,’ the developers of Overwatch 2 have decided to scrap the previously promised PvE Hero Mode, inciting the ire of fans.
Announced and shown to players at BlizzCon 2019, Overwatch 2’s main selling point of a Hero Mode PvE – complete with progression systems, robust talent trees, and campaign confrontations – has officially been cancelled. Blizzard announced this new development during its developer livestream yesterday, which you can watch in its entirety below. The developer livestream also showed fans the upcoming Overwatch 2 roadmap for 2023.
Executive Producer Jared Neuss explained, “We can’t deliver on the original vision for PvE that was shown in 2019,” and went on to say, “So that means we won’t be delivering the dedicated hero mode with talent trees, the long-term progression… those things are just not in our plans anymore,” regarding the promised mode. Neuss then clarified what he meant in a follow-up tweet that included the 2023 roadmap, assuring fans that a PvE mode is still coming to the title, just not anything close to what has been marketed over the past three years.
Game Director Aaron Keller took to the livestream to further clarify the development team’s new stance on the PvE content coming to Overwatch 2: “Going forward, instead of doing a big one-time PvE release and putting all of our efforts into these singular PvE releases, we’re planning to make co-op experiences and co-op gameplay just part of our live roadmap.
While the development team did indeed say a form of the PvE content promised to fans was still coming, fan backlash was swift and harsh for these new developments. Twitter user @mrgamingbuds said “I feel like *this* should have been communicated at the launch of OW2.
Especially if you were planning on scaling back this much from the goal and gameplay we’ve been shown previously” on the cancellation announcement, saying the developers should have spoken up far sooner about the removed modes for Overwatch 2, a sentiment echoed by MANY fans on the Twitter platform.
Other fans were disappointed the developers didn’t show anything to ease fan worry on the ‘watered-down’ PvE content, with user @smashvill saying, “You didn’t show any of It to reassure us or anything just the road map? Super disappointed.”
Other fans scorched Earth, stating Blizzard falsely advertised the content to continue monetizing Overwatch 2. User @mrdarthhenry said, “Bait and switch. Blizzard lied and spent all the supposed development time making shop skins” in response to Neuss’s tweet.
Blizzard did say there will be PvE content, just not as initially promised and it will be included as the in-game seasons of Overwatch 2 press onwards. Fans can head over to the official Overwatch 2 website for more information regarding future developments.
