One huge hook promised with Overwatch 2 was that players would get more than just multiplayer matches and have some Player vs. Environment levels with missions focused on specific heroes.
While that all sounded exciting when it was announced, Blizzard is backing out of their promise. In a recent midseason livestream for Overwatch 2 (via PCGamer), it was confirmed that the original plans for PvE have been scrapped.
As it turns out, development hasn’t been pushing forward as originally expected, and the tough choice was to keep working on a project with ‘no end in sight’ or scale down the PvE focus. Executive producer Jared Neuss explains:
“With everything we’ve learned about what it takes to operate this game at the level you deserve, it’s clear that we can’t deliver on the original vision for PvE that was shown in 2019… What that means is we won’t be delivering that dedicated hero mode with talent trees, that long-term power progression. Those things just aren’t in our plans anymore.”
Though original plans were canceled, the game is still set to have some seasonal PvE events, like with Overwatch Archives and Junkenstein’s Revenge. It would have been interesting to get a skill tree and watch how each hero’s ability changed as you progressed.
We may no longer get campaign missions and PvE, but Overwatch 2 is still fun. The game is now available for PlayStation 4|5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.