Late final 12 months, Overwatch 2 received some critical competitors within the realm of hero shooters when NetEase launched Marvel Rivals. Quite a few new Overwatch 2 options have additionally drawn comparisons to Marvel Rivals, together with the latest reveal of the third-person Stadium mode. However in accordance with Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller, Stadium mode and different options weren’t made in response to Marvel Rivals. As a substitute, lots of them have been deliberate earlier than Marvel Rivals debuted.
“I believe that competitors is wholesome,” mentioned Keller throughout a visitor look on Jay3’s stream. “It does drive folks to innovate extra and to all the time be placing your finest foot ahead, however I do not suppose what you are seeing in Overwatch 2 proper now’s a response to Marvel Rivals. A lot of what we have been doing this year–from perks to Stadium to map voting, we did full hero bans–so a lot of what we’re doing right here and all of the heroes we’re releasing has been within the works for over a 12 months as a part of a brand new technique for the sport to have a giant annual kick off to the 12 months.”
Keller recommended that there could issues added to Overwatch 2 sooner or later if the video games are nonetheless actively competing, however he did not add any specifics past that. Throughout the identical stream, Keller acknowledged that Overwatch 2 has had very little of the story content, cinematics, and animated shorts that helped outline the world within the first sport. Nevertheless, he expressed a need to position extra emphasis on story sooner or later.
The Overwatch 2 x G.I. Joe collaboration started earlier this month and ends immediately, July 14. Among the earlier collaborations included a few Transformers-inspired costumes, in addition to some from Street Fighter and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Overwatch Season 17 is presently lively.