Overwatch 2 Release Suffers Another Delay

Overwatch fans may have to wait a bit longer for the completion and launch of Overwatch 2 as more delays appear. Seemingly, the wrangles and workplace discrimination issues affecting Blizzard have affected the development and release of the game.

Overwatch 2 Delays

There have been a series of delays to the launch of the sequel since Activision Blizzard first announced Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon in 2019. And a recent rumor has it that the work on the project is not going as expected. Certainly, the game won’t come live in 2021 despite fan expectations and hopes for it in late 2021 or early 2022. Overwatch 2 will feature new maps, new heroes, a single-player mode, and noticeable reworks on the current heroes.

Taking to Twitter, esports player “Metro” cited that developers and others close to the game’s development agree that the process is taking longer than expected. The release of the game in 2022 doesn’t seem feasible, especially with the current woes affecting Blizzard. Metro says Blizzard might delay the launch of Overwatch 2 to 2023.

OW2 News

I've heard from multiple people close to my original source with OW2 that the development is taking longer than expected. From what I can gather a release in 2022 does not seem likely anymore. I hope this is false and I'm proven wrong.

— Metro (@Metro_OW) August 7, 2021

Tentative Release Date

Balancing and rework on the current heroes is allegedly part of the reason the game is still under development. Despite the work done already, a beta version is not released, which implies there is still a lot to do.

Metro reports that work on the multiplayer and single-player campaigns are complete. Although much of the remaining coding and development still lies in reworking the heroes. There’s a need to rebalance the heroes to match the updates on 5v5 instead of the usual 6v6.

The delay means fans could wait until 2023 for the release date of Overwatch 2, which could see it lose popularity without exciting new content. The game’s last hero, Echo, was released in April 2020. Since then, no major update has entered Overwatch apart from Sojourn’s reveal at BlizzCon. Fans might have to stick to the same maps, modes, and heroes until the launch of Overwatch 2.

Written by Daniella Johnson

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