When Overwatch 2 was first announced in 2019, Blizzard had big plans for PvE. But over time, these plans have shifted and now the developer has reportedly canceled one of the game's most ambitious modes.
Overwatch 2's Hero Missions, or Hero Mode, has officially been scrapped. In this now-canceled mode, players would engage in deeply replayable PvE missions, but the true highlight was the ability to upgrade each individual hero through talent trees.
But over time, Blizzard's PvE plans were whittled down. Last August, Overwatch 2 did receive some PvE content but it was a far cry from what was originally promised. To date, there are just three, 30-minute missions available in the game.
Following reports that Blizzard had outright canceled all of its PvE plans for Overwatch 2, game director Aaron Keller has issued a blog post to set the record straight.
While Hero Mode is being canceled completely, Blizzard will still move forward with its planned Story Missions. These are fast-paced, co-op gameplay experiences that feature cinematics and cutscenes to expand the world of Overwatch.
These new co-op missions will take place on "huge maps with new enemies and new cinematics," Keller explained. They will begin to release in Season 6.
"The work done here is amazing, leaps and bounds above what we’ve built for PvE previously in our game, and I can't wait for our players to get their hands on them. We’ll be sharing more details there in the coming weeks," he added.
And while Hero Missions was a "really exciting concept" that the "team was passionate about and really dedicated to," Blizzard is no longer moving forward with it.
In the lengthy blog post, Keller set out to explain why Hero Missions had been scrapped. It basically came down to the developer not finding a way to deliver on all of their ambitious plans for Overwatch 2.
"After Overwatch 2 had launched, we started refining our plans for future seasons. As those plans grew, we tried to find ways to make all of our ambitions fit together in a plan that we believed in," Keller explained. "We couldn't. And we also knew that we couldn't go back to pulling people away from the live game in service of that original vision again. So, we made the difficult decision to cut Hero Missions and started planning for the future."
However, a new report from Bloomberg may provide some additional insight into the decision-making process. According to industry insider Jason Schreier, last year's paid pack of three PvE story missions sold poorly. Not only did that result in many of the developers not receiving their typical profit-sharing bonuses, but company-wide layoffs as well — with the PvE team being the most affected.
The poor financial performance of Overwatch 2's PvE story missions could have had something to do with Blizzard also completely scrapping the planned Hero Missions.
Once a core pillar for Overwatch 2, the game's PvE content has been nearly completely gutted. Blizzard instead plans to couple down on the PvP aspect of the game.
The Overwatch franchise was initially introduced in 2016 as a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter. The game, which was actually sold as a boxed product, was an incredible success. But with Overwatch 2, Blizzard shifted to a free-to-play model that presented its own set of business challenges that Blizzard seemingly hasn't found a way to solve.