Overwatch 2 has been in development for several years now with no major window for when it is supposed to release. While several people have offered suggestions or ideas as to when they expected it, nothing has been concrete. At one point a large chunk of development was restarted which most likely delayed the game further.
Right now the company is going through a turbulent time as many employees both female and male have claimed the workplace is problematic, with over 1000 employees signing a petition for change. This is on top of a lawsuit by the state of California, as well as one from shareholders, in response to these claims.
All of this together means that if you were hoping Overwatch 2 was just on the horizon you can give up that hope as a new rumor suggests the game will see a 2023 release at the earliest. Based on everything that has surrounded the company this turn of events does make sense.
Disclaimer – This information has not been verified, therefore this is not factual.
According to Overwatch streamer Metro, who had previously put forward spring of this year as a potential release date, the game will not be seeing a release next year either. He posted this in a tweet, stating sources he had close to the project say 2023 is the earliest.
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
The delays to the game have been caused by a perfect storm of issues, not just including the recent allegations, but also Covid-19, internal shrinking of team sizes, as well as the departure of Jeff Kaplan earlier this year. While the game, based on what has been shown, seems to be far in development it is hard to quantify how these issues have or will fully impact the development.
As Metro points out in a follow-up tweet, much of the future of the game hinges on this sequel. While the first game still has events, the summer games event currently going on now, updates have been few and far between with the last major one adding cross-play. As metro puts it “That being said, if it turns out to be true, RIP OW no way the game will be alive for another year and a half without major updates.”
Blizzcon 2021 was canceled so it is unlikely we will hear anything official before the end of this year. As usual, this is best taken with a grain of salt for the time being.
Source – GamesRadar+
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