Blizzard Entertainment struck gold with World of Warcraft and it has been dominating the MMO space for almost two decades. Overwatch was originally envisioned as Project Titan, a new MMORPG that would not be a part of the Diablo, Starcraft, or Warcraft franchises.
Speculation around the game began all the way back in 2007 and the game was internally canceled in 2013 but Blizzard made an official announcement in 2014. Assets from Project Titan were repurposed and the direction of the game took a massive shift into what we now know as Overwatch. But what if the game did not get canceled, does Overwatch have the potential to be a proper MMORPG franchise?
Overwatch Might End as an Unrealized Dream
Following Titan’s cancellation, the remaining team at Blizzard which includes Jeff Kaplan and Chris Metzen, came up with a new idea and turned the game into a PvP title. Call of Duty, Battlefield, Counter-Strike, and Team Fortress dominated the FPS space when Overwatch was being developed and Blizzard was about to go up against some serious competition.
Overwatch managed to stand out because it feels like a mix of MOBA team-based shooters like Team Fortress 2. It was even released just before the battle royale hype kicked in and continued to thrive. As players began to know more about Project Titan following Overwatch’s release, players wanted more PvE content.
Lore and storytelling are not prioritized by developers when it comes to most competitive shooters but Overwatch stood out because of its cinematics and comics. The lore of Overwatch is nothing to write home about it’s the storytelling through the cinematics that intrigued fans. Fans wanted more from the PvE experiences within the seasonal events and it looked like Blizzard wanted to deliver.
Earlier this year, Overwatch 2 Director Aaron Keller revealed in an official blog that Overwatch had many facets over the years but it was always meant to be an FPS MMO. He revealed, “The Overwatch team, especially at its inception, considered itself an MMO development team. As we transitioned away from that original concept and started creating Overwatch, we included plans to one day return to that scope. We had a crawl, walk, run plan. Overwatch was the crawl, a dedicated version of PvE was the walk, and an MMO was the run.”
The game was meant to return to its Project Titan root. The developers were working on the PvE component of the game ever since Overwatch launched but they had to pull resources from the PvP team which caused issues. Development for Overwatch (2016) was halted so Overwatch 2 could be built and players were left with no new heroes and maps for years. Overwatch League’s move from Twitch to YouTube also negatively affected its popularity and interest in the game began to decline.
What we ended up receiving from Overwatch 2 was just more PvP in a differently monetized format and absolutely zero PvE which has greatly disappointed fans.
The World of Overwatch Has Promise But No Hope
The Overwatch franchise could have easily been a live-service MMO similar to The Division 2, Destiny 2, or Warframe. The core gameplay feels great and Blizzard Entertainment had previously shown off skill trees that players could customize.
We already have existing factions in the game in the form of Talon, Overwatch 2, Null Sector, and potential for many more. The characters play very differently and we already have separate classes, so the foundations for a live-service PvE title are already there but with the absence of Jeff Kaplan, Chris Metzen, and many key figures of the Overwatch team, it does not look like the original dream of an Overwatch MMO will come to fruition.
Instead, we will get bite-sized content updates in seasons where we get to interact with the story. The Overwatch 2: Invasion update is Blizzard’s attempt at redeeming itself and we may finally see what PvE content in Overwatch would have looked like if we got what was promised.
I am personally not very hopeful about the Invasion update but if Blizzard does manage to surprise us, the community might actually look forward to the future story content that is headed our way. The monetization and bifurcation of the content itself is what is rubbing many the wrong way.
Overwatch 2 PvE was always meant to be a paid upgrade and many would rather pay an upfront cost of a AAA title and experience what the game has to offer instead of paying for individual updates every few seasons. After the Invasion update, we will need to wait a few seasons until the next story update is here and it’s a shame that we cannot get that Borderlands-like experience that was teased at Blizzcon several years ago.
There is No Incentive For An Overwatch MMO
Activision Blizzard's financial report for the fourth quarter of 2022 (which is when Overwatch 2 was released) highlighted that the franchise is more profitable than ever before. The report revealed that Blizzard achieved the “highest quarterly figures for player numbers and hours played in Overwatch history.”
The report proves that Blizzard knows what it is doing even though it might not be what the players want. We don’t know for sure how the announcement of PvE getting scrapped will affect Overwatch 2 moving forward, but I won’t be surprised if it does not make a difference at all.
Just because Overwatch 2’s MMORPG dreams are down and out does not mean we will not get a co-op live service title from Blizzard. Project Odyssey is in the works and it is supposed to be a new survival MMORPG and if you are looking for more PvE content outside of World of Warcraft or Diablo, it might be up your alley.
We might get more information about the future of Overwatch 2 PvE content in the future but a full-fledged live-service experience that many expected from the game is unlikely ever to become reality.
