Blizzard knows well that the November 2019-announced Overwatch 2 did not have good communication around it altogether.

 

 

In the video below, Aaron Keller, Overwatch 2’s director, says the following: “Hello, heroes of Overwatch. The team has been making significant progress on the development of Overwatch 2. Daily playtests and feedback have given us confidence that we’re creating something you’re going to love. At the same time, we want to get the game in your hands soon, which leads to why I’m here today. But before I get to that, I want to thank our players for your continued support.

We recognize we haven’t communicated well, haven’t kept you up to date, and, honestly, we’ve let you down when delivering Overwatch content. We hear you, and we’re committed to more continual updates on all things Overwatch 2. This starts with my update to you today. Based on your feedback, we’ve taken some time to rethink Overwatch 2 with the singular goal of ensuring it is a living game, serving our players with exciting content regularly.

And we are shifting our plan for Overwatch 2 to enable you to play it sooner. This starts with us decoupling the PvP features of the game from the PvE systems to bring you PvP sooner. This includes the new 5v5 team format, new heroes, new maps, the new Push game mode, significant hero updates and reworks, and many new gameplay features, including, for example, a new ping system. This represents the most new content we have brought to our game since launch when you put it all together.

Let me take a moment to share how we got here. A few years ago, we made the call to focus our team’s development efforts almost entirely on Overwatch 2. And as the development of the sequel stretched on, the live game received less focus. It meant that we were no longer delivering on one of our core values: To support our game by updating it and providing content regularly.

Today’s change in approach enables us to deliver frequent PvP content to the live game, far exceed Overwatch’s previous rate of content release, and make the live game the most vibrant and dynamic PvP experience anywhere. In that spirit, I’d like to share that we are beginning Overwatch 2 PvP testing this week, with a closed alpha containing many of these PVP features, as well as a new hero, Sojourn. As they get ready for the next season, the alpha will be run under NDA and be limited to Blizzard employees and key partners, like Overwatch League pros.
I’m also excited to announce that we will be opening the first closed PVP beta in late April to start testing this content with more players. If you’re interested in participating in this upcoming beta, please visit PlayOverwatch.com. Following that first beta test, we are planning additional public PvP beta testing later in the year, including new features, new maps, and, yes, new heroes.

I want to return to how we started this conversation, improving our communication with all of you. We know you are eager for more information. As I stated earlier, starting now, we will be communicating much more frequently about our plans. During and after each beta, we’ll share updates about what we’re learning, changes we’re considering, and what we’ll look to test next. We look forward to working with you to make Overwatch 2 unforgettable together. This will be an exciting year for Overwatch, and we’re looking forward to taking this journey together.
Thank you for your dedication, your passion, and your patience. I can’t wait to see players in our alpha and future beta builds, and, of course, the entire team can’t wait to get Overwatch 2 in your hands. Thanks for watching. Be good to each other, and we’ll talk soon,” Keller said.

Overwatch 2 is announced for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC, but we suspect by the time the game launches (2023? PvP elements in Fall 2022?), it will be on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series as well natively. The closed beta will be PC-only.

Source: Gematsu