The Overwatch franchise has been a mainstay in the hero shooter genre, though it has slowly lost a significant portion of its player base and hasn’t returned to prominence with Overwatch 2, in part because of some poor management. The landscape has only gotten more difficult with the highly successful release of Marvel Rivals. Blizzard is hoping to turn things around by introducing several gameplay changes to Overwatch, however..
The company will be holding an Overwatch 2 Spotlight event to debut what it’s heralding as “breakthrough changes in the PvP experience.” It’s a big enough departure to warrant having a livestream where players can see the new experience for themselves. Players will also be able to see the new heroes, maps and other content the development team has been cooking up and will be releasing throughout the year.
To get as many eyeballs as possible on the event, some of the most popular Overwatch 2 content creators will be part of the livestream. Additionally, players who tune in for at least an hour will be able to claim the Lucio Cyber DJ Legendary Skin as an exclusive drop that will only be available during the spotlight. Players should ensure that their battle.net account is linked with either their YouTube or Twitch account to claim the skin.
Having a complete reset like this is a bold move by Blizzard, but a necessary one. Overwatch 2 has fallen from prominance since Marvel Rivals launched, and that’s a bad place to be in for a game that lives as a live service. There is danger in this kind of move, though, as Blizzard could potentially alienate its remaining core base of players while failing to recapture former players or gaining any new players.
The future of Overwatch will become more clear when the Overwatch 2 Spotlight event takes place on February 12. The event will be streamed on the game’s official YouTube and Twitch channels.