Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 development team has today announced the cancellation of the game’s long-awaited PvE Hero Mode.
While there will still be PvE elements going forward, the main mode the company promised when it originally announced the sequel to the popular team-based hero shooter has been officially axed.
Overwatch 2 executive producer Jared Neuss explained what led to this decision in a Twitch livestream – stating how the PvE experience had “not really” made the progress the team hoped it would and the effort required to ship a “Blizzard-quality experience” would be huge, with no end date in sight.
“With everything we have learned about what it takes to operate this game at the level that you deserve, it’s clear that we can’t deliver on that original vision for PvE that was shown in 2019. What that means is that we won’t be delivering that dedicated hero mode with talent trees, that long-term talent power progression. Those things are just not in our plans anymore. And we know that this is going to be disappointing to many of you which is why we wanted to bring it up before we talk about the road map.”
Neuss went on to mention how it’s been just as difficult for the team to come to terms with this decision, as many members poured their “heart and soul” into the now-cancelled mode. Speaking to Gamespot, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller mentioned how the team was “still committed to PvE” but was just doing it in a different way than it originally talked about.
Here’s what the roadmap now looks like for Overwatch 2, which includes new story-driven missions to play through:
How do you feel about the PvE Hero Mode being axed? Were you looking forward to this? Comment below.