Overwatch 2 doesn’t look like Overwatch

And that’s sad

Katelyn Burns
4 min readSep 30, 2021
Credit: playoverwatch.com

When Overwatch was first released in 2016, it was groundbreaking. The game combined a first person shooter with the variety and roles of a MOBA, creating perhaps the most complex team-based shooter game in history.

It was named game of the year by tk on its release, and it seemed like Overwatch content was everywhere. But thanks to a stale content development calendar, and a few unpopular and broken metas, the game has largely fallen out of favor.

The game’s developer, Blizzard, announced early last year that they would not be releasing new content for the game anymore in order to focus on the game’s sequel, Overwatch 2. In the meantime, the pandemic, and a devastating string of awful lawsuits over the company’s abysmal treatment of women employees has further hamstrung development. This has left Overwatch in a sad state with a declining player base.

In late 2019tk, the game released the support hero Brigitte, ostensibly designed to counter the oppressive dive meta that was in vogue at the time. Her release spawned the dreaded Goats meta, in which three support heroes and three tanks made up each team of 6. That meta lasted a year and a half, and players lost interest in the game over time.

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Katelyn Burns
Katelyn Burns

Written by Katelyn Burns

Political journalist. The first openly trans Capitol Hill reporter in US history. Writing about more than just trans issues. Follow her on Twitter @transscribe

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