Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller has addressed the elephant in the room in the latest blog update for the game.
In regards to the review bombing the game received on Steam, this is what Aaron had to say:
“We also launched on Steam last week, and, although being review-bombed isn’t a fun experience, it’s been great to see lots of new players jump into Overwatch 2 for the first time. Our goal with Overwatch 2 has been to make the game more accessible than ever for more people than ever before.
Many of the reviews on Steam mention the cancellation of the much larger component of PvE that was announced in 2019 as one of their primary reasons for dissatisfaction with the game. I get that. That announcement was about an ambitious project that we ultimately couldn’t deliver.
If we can’t turn back the clock, then what can we do? We can keep adding to and improving Overwatch 2. That is how we move forward. This means more maps, heroes, game modes, missions, stories, events, cool cosmetics, and features – an ever-expanding, evolving, and improving game. This is the future of Overwatch. One where we will continually create and innovate on what is making the game great now for the players who are playing now.”
It certainly seemed like Blizzard had taken a bit too long to talk about this issue, but as Aaron points out, the players who did give it a chance seemed to have seen what the company did do firsthand.
Aaron says the feedback they get from the actual players is that it’s “in the best state it’s ever been.” Furthermore, they ares being told by players that they’re really listening to their feedback.
Aaron noted that they got a lot of positive feedback for their newest support hero, Illari, in particular. They revealed she would join ranked mode on August 24, 2023, with some balancing out based on this early feedback.
They also haven’t received much feedback for the new Flashpoint mode, that did come with two unique maps. Aaron didn’t mention if the metrics indicated that there are a lot or few players for this mode, but the team is asking for feedback on it now so that they can start Ranked matches on it soon.
As for the Story Missions, while many people were quick to dismiss the Invasion storyline outright, there were players who gutted it out, and Aaron made sure to mention it. He pointed out that some players had the nerve to try these missions on Legendary, which even they know is incredibly difficult.
As Aaron put it, those few bold players had to come up with their own strategies, and relied on a lot of teamwork, to get through these encounters. And so Aaron shared the staggering numbers. Only 1.6 % of attempts to play Gothenburg at Legendary succeeded. Subsequently, only 0.7 % of attempts to play Toronto at Legendary were successful.
As it turns out, Overwatch 2: Invasion may just be worth players’ time. While we don’t know if Blizzard can deliver enough story to satisfy the fans who felt cheated by the game’s messy management and communication, but they seem to be earnestly trying here.
Perhaps we will eventually get enough Overwatch 2 PvE content that would justify putting it on disc. The early ambitions for the game seemed to be far larger than that, but slowly building it out might pay off for Blizzard and the fans in the end.
