Whereas Marvel Rivals has been extremely profitable for developer NetEase Video games, many have been questioning how Blizzard feels a few new title seemingly stealing the thunder from Overwatch 2. Director Aaron Keller has revealed in an interview with GamesRadar that the group has to cease “taking part in it protected”.
For context, whereas Overwatch 2 has nonetheless maintained a wholesome participant base, increasingly gamers have been opting to spend their time with Marvel Rivals as a substitute. Even Overwatch 2‘s Twitch viewership dropped again in January, with Marvel Rivals getting extra viewers since its launch.
Keller spoke in regards to the new sense of competitors that Blizzard is feeling from Marvel Rivals, because the two video games are fairly related in style and gameplay kinds. He refers to this competitors as “sort of thrilling”.
“We’re clearly in a brand new aggressive panorama that I feel, for Overwatch, we’ve by no means actually been in earlier than, to this extent the place there’s one other sport that’s so much like the one which we’ve created,” Keller stated within the interview. “There’s truly one thing sort of thrilling about this, for a number of causes.”
The Overwatch 2 director then pointed to the recently-announced Season 15 of the sport as a superb instance of how the corporate is seeking to shake issues up in response to the recognition of Marvel Rivals. He refers back to the group engaged on Overwatch 2 as feeling inside strain, prompting themselves to make the absolute best sport that they’ll.
“There’s strain on the Overwatch group, and lots of it’s inside,” Keller stated. “It’s [asking] how will we make the absolute best sport that we are able to? And we’ve been feeling it for some time.”
“We wish to inject a little bit of freshness into the sport, however not only for selection’s sake. We wish to improve the depth of play,” Keller continued. “So with perks, there’s some decisions in there that we hope add depth to what it means to play any considered one of our heroes within the sport, and we hope that it provides technique over the course of a match, as a result of now you’re capable of decide issues that both increase what your hero is doing – or possibly you’re going to make use of it to counter what someone is doing on the opposite group.”
Season 15 of Overwatch 2, titled Honor & Glory, is slated for launch on February 18. The replace goes to deliver fairly a number of new options to the sport, together with the addition of Perks as a brand new sport mechanic. Divided into Minor and Main perks, the system permits gamers to refine their play fashion with any of the playable characters the deeper they get right into a match. For instance, a Torbjorn participant will be capable of decide between having a extra highly effective degree 3 turret, or in the event that they would like degree 2 turrets that may be constructed alongside partitions or ceilings as a substitute.
Together with the gameplay and steadiness modifications, Overwatch 2 may also be resetting participant ranks. A brand new reward system can be being added to the sport within the type of loot bins that may permit gamers to earn extra cosmetics.