Overwatch 2 Players Should Expect a Multi-Season Gap Between Story Missions, Blizzard says

Overwatch 2 likely won’t get any further story missions for at least the next two seasons following the launch of Season 6, Invasion, according to the game’s executive producer Jared Neuss.

“Don’t expect the next round [of story missions] in the next season and the season after that, or anything like that,” commented Neuss during a recent Twitch appearance alongside streamer Emongg, reported on by GamesRadar. “It is very much like trying to find that balance between getting [story missions] in front of players quickly because we love story stuff, and giving ourselves enough time to make changes or add features.”

Neuss revealed during a seperate Twitch stream in May earlier this year that Blizzard was outright cancelling Overwatch 2’s highly anticipated PvE Hero mode, much to the chagrin of the series’ many fans. The move was particularly frustrating as some players viewed the addition of the PvE elements as a key difference between Overwatch 2 and its 2016 predecessor.

Instead, Blizzard said it would focus on the release of story missions, which, according to Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller, “take place on huge maps with new enemies” while featuring “fast paced, co-op gameplay”, along with cutscenes and story cinematics. However, the community was further incensed when it was revealed players would have to buy a $15 digital content bundle In order to partake in the upcoming story missions.

“To be fair, there’s a bunch of stuff that we want to do next year, or that are already in development for next year, that will fill the gaps that people will have in between,” said Neuss. “We’re trying to make it so that it doesn’t feel like ‘and then there’s nothing’ for a long extended period of time. It’s more like ‘there’s this cool thing!’ and ‘there’s this other narrative thing’, ‘there’s this other narrative thing’ – we keep telling interesting stories and moving that all forward.”

Overwatch 2’s next story missions are due to release as part of the upcoming sixth season of the team based shooter, titled Invasion, which is set to land on August 10. However, judging by Neuss’ wording, it seems unlikely that Blizzard will release any more story missions in 2023.

In IGN’s 8/10 review, we noted “Overwatch 2 breathes new life into what was once the sharpest multiplayer shooter around, before it had its edges severely dulled by Blizzard’s attention shifting away”.

Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer