Aaron Keller believes Blizzard’s hero shooter is benefiting from NetEase’s blockbuster, as healthy rivalry keeps the team sharp and creative.

From day one, Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2 have been compared and contrasted. NetEase’s game took the gaming community by storm, racking up over 400,000 players at launch and making an impressive debut. Meanwhile, Overwatch 2 suffered a bit of a lull, experiencing a slower season. Yet, Blizzard’s hero shooter managed to regain its momentum thanks to a major perk overhaul and the introduction of the new Stadium mode. The timing of these updates—coming so soon after Marvel Rivals’ launch—prompted many to speculate that Blizzard was directly responding to its new rival. But Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller says that’s not the case.

“We’ve done a ton this year—from perks to Stadium to map voting. We implemented full hero bans, and every hero we’re releasing has been in the works for over a year as part of a strategy to kick off each year with a big event. I believe competition is healthy. It forces people to innovate and always put their best foot forward, but I don’t think what you’re seeing in Overwatch 2 is a reaction to Marvel Rivals,” Keller explained.

Much of what you see in Stadium was previewed years ago. Custom abilities—like Soldier: 76’s healing pylon that tracks him on the move—were first showcased at BlizzCon 2021, as part of the promised PvE update and talent system. After that mode was scrapped, developers began brainstorming how to repackage this content, which ultimately evolved into the new Stadium mode.

Blizzard was under serious pressure to address the challenge posed by Marvel Rivals. It’s not easy to ignore the competitive atmosphere and the community’s expectations when building new content, but the development process was never happening in a vacuum. Regardless of whether the post-Rivals content was released in response to NetEase’s success, this may well be Overwatch 2’s most impressive year yet.

With a massive new standalone Stadium mode and a wave of new content—perks, heroes, and maps—each season has brought fresh excitement to the game.

Source: PCGamer