'Overwatch' Will Become Unplayable From October

Although things had been quiet on the Overwatch 2 front for years since that initial announcement in 2019, the past few months have seen a surge in news and updates. Late April saw the beginning of the first beta period, with the second one going live next week.

The question on many players’ minds throughout all the news though has been, why? When a video was posted last month comparing the maps between the sequel and its predecessor, it was apparent that not much had changed at all - it seemed only the lighting had been altered to make things look a little different. The lack of change made many people wonder what the point of a sequel even was when there’s still so many players who enjoy the first game - would everyone want to make the switch over to the new one? Well, Blizzard have determined that you don’t have a choice.

Take a look at the trailer for Overwatch 2 right here.

Yup, really. As reported by Kotaku, it’s been officially confirmed that the release of the sequel will kill off the original game entirely. This was revealed on a Reddit AMA thread by game director Aaron Keller, when directly asked if Overwatch would shut down once Overwatch 2 leaves early access: “We’re using the term ‘Early Access’ to indicate this is just the start of many new things coming to the game,” he said. “We’re launching with new heroes, maps, and features, but there are even more of these coming seasonally - every nine weeks. 

"We recently released a roadmap detailing some of this content, with a new hero coming in Seasons [One] and [Two], and a new map in Season [Two]. Additionally, larger pieces of the game that have always been a part of the vision for OW2 will be released to the game as part of the live service, including the launch of the PvE campaign next year. When OW2 launches on October 4, it will be a replacement for the current Live Service.”

The good news of course is that Overwatch 2 will be free-to-play, so players aren’t going to be forced to spend more money on the game if they want to carry on playing. Even so, it’s the end of an era for the first game - thank you for your service, old friend.