Overwatch… 2 is announced?

So, uh, yeah, Overwatch 2 is going to be a thing. A shiny 8 minute cinematic was released alongside a 3 minute gameplay trailer which gave us a glimpse of how the game runs, and frankly, I am very confused. The trailer is honestly a pretty standard hero thing where the good guys are outnumbered and the bad guys are faceless monsters (or rather, omnics) and clearly there are only two police officers in the entirety of Paris. And just when everything seems hopeless, oh look, everyone else arrives and the good guys save the day.

I’m going to be honest, Blizzard haven’t sold this to me yet. Everyone in the Youtube comments seemed pretty happy about the announcement and are all “this is cool!” but I’m not convinced. Especially since cinematics aren’t like gameplay most of the time.

But after watching the gameplay trailer, I am EVEN LESS CONVINCED. This just feels like… like Mann VS Machine. A coop mode for a competitive shooter game. Alternatively, it looks like the opposite of Warframe’s Conclave game mode, which is a tactical PvP twitch shooter buried underneath a ton of cooperative gameplay. Except you have to buy Overwatch 2 as an entirely separate game.

The rest of Overwatch is there. All the classes are there, all the maps are still there, the PvP is still there, the only real thing is that you get a story mode with upgrade-able heroes.

The thing that confuses me the most though is this text at the bottom of the Overwatch 2 page:

Your accomplishments and loot collections will be carried forward to Overwatch 2. That means you’ll keep your skins, player icons, sprays, emotes, and more! Current Overwatch players will battle side-by-side with Overwatch 2 players in PvP multiplayer; they’ll also be able to play Overwatch 2 heroes and maps.

So, uh, why make a new game?

Like, seriously, why split your playerbase like this? Because you’re going to have people buying Overwatch 2 and people stubbornly staying with Overwatch 1, and the changes are mostly making the game look nicer and adding a story mode? Why aren’t Blizzard just making DLC for Overwatch, so they can keep everything together?

And don’t say “it’s too hard to overhaul the game like that!” because that’s bullshit. Many massive games have undergone complete overhauls! Destiny 2 went through massive changes when Bungie pulled the game from Battle.net and got the game on Steam. If Bungie can do it, then surely Blizzard can. Okay, maybe that’s not a great example because Destiny turned into Destiny 2 with a ton of DLC in between, but Overwatch 2 feels like it’s making the same original mistakes Destiny made.

Heck, if Digital Extremes can make Warframe, a game about space ninjas who jump around a lot, into a space ninjas flying on spaceships and hijacking other spaceships, why can’t Blizzard just make Overwatch 2 into DLC?

I don’t want to sound negative but I don’t really understand WHY someone would do this, especially with a popular PvP game like Overwatch. It’s not that I don’t like change or anything, but the transition from one PvP game to a sequel is far bumpier than games that are more coop with some PvP on the side, and Overwatch 2 doesn’t… really add anything that I feel is worth $60-ish. Sure, Overwatch 1 players will be able to play with Overwatch 2 players, but is the story mode alone… really worth it?

I guess we’ll just have to find out later.