When Blizzard revealed Overwatch 2 for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch back in November at BlizzCon, there was some confusion over whether it was a proper sequel or just a bloated expansion. Why? Well for a plethora of reasons. For one, there seemed to be a general lack of new content. Two, the new hero designs looked like simple revisions. And three because the multiplayer was going to be largely the same. In fact, if you own the first game you’ll get all of the multiplayer content of the sequel. In other words, the big differentiator is the PvE story content, which will only be playable with the sequel.
That said, there’s been some criticism and Internet jabs thrown Blizzard’s way, suggesting the game isn’t really a sequel as much as an expansion. However, speaking to Edge Magazine, game director Jeff Kaplan ensured this isn’t the case.
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“A sequel is a brand new game, with new gameplay and features as well as an evolution of the game world. Overwatch 2 is clearly a sequel by my definition,” said Kaplan. “We’ve more than doubled the team size from the original game to make Overwatch 2. We’ll be introducing a full suite of new PvP maps to the game – what you would expect from a sequel to any shooter – including multiple new maps for every existing game mode currently in the game, as well as Push.”
Kaplan continued making his case by noting that there’s new heroes, new story content, and even a much updated engine.
“Overwatch 2 is an order of magnitude larger than the original game, and therefore we consider it a sequel,” concluded the director.
Of course, at this point it’s going to be hard for Blizzard to overturn the narrative around the game being more expansion than sequel, but Kaplan makes a slew of pretty good points here. That said, people rarely budge after drawing lines in the sand on a product.
Overwatch 2 is in development for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. At the moment of publishing, there’s been no word of a release date. For more news, rumors, leaks, media, and information on the game, be sure to peep all of our previous and extensive coverage of the title by clicking right here.
“In Overwatch 2, players will take on the roles of the world’s heroes in cooperative missions that challenge them to team up, power up, and stand together against an overwhelming outbreak of threats around the globe,” reads an official pitch of the game via Blizzard. “Players will also battle each other in the next evolution of competitive Overwatch play, which carries forward existing players’ accomplishments and loot collections and features the current complete Overwatch roster, a new generation of heroes, new internationally recognizable maps that widen the scope of the world, a new Push map type, and more.”
