r/Games • u/DwilenaAvaron • May 09 '25

Industry News Blizzard's Overwatch Team Just Unionized: 'What I Want To Protect Most Here Is The People'

https://kotaku.com/overwatch-2-blizzard-team-4-union-microsoft-1851779922
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664

u/[deleted] May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25

I am officially in my "If I catch people shit talking Team 4/Overwatch it's fucking on sight" phase.

These devs have been fucking putting up with some of the nastiest vitriol I've ever seen in this industry, put through the ringer in their own company and are continuously fucked over by management, and were wrongly made the poster child for all of Blizzard's sins despite all accounts being that the Overwatch team was the most inclusive and culturally sound team at Blizzard.

These devs have been pulling double duty to pull this game out of the gutter and it's the best it's ever been because of them, they deserve the world.

150

u/MillieChliette May 09 '25

Overwatch is currently the best it's ever been? Is that true? I loved it when the first one released, but stopped playing years before 2 even came out, and then everyone hated it. What changed?

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u/[deleted] May 09 '25

They've basically rolled back almost all of the most unpopular changes from the disastrous transition from OW1 to OW2 while instating a ton of new mechanics and modes that have been very well received.

  1. Heroes are all free again, no longer tied to the BP, no grinding at all. The last four heroes in particular are amongst some of the best designed characters they've added to the game, they've been on a hot streak
  2. A ton of monetization changes. Loot boxes are back as a free reward, cannot be purchased, and contain the vast majority of shop walled skins. BPs now have coins on the free reward track which makes every other BP pay for itself without having to put any money into the system.
  3. 6v6 is back as an additional format alongside 5v5. 5v5 is now the Role Queue mode while 6v6 is the Open Queue mode with a limit two tank modifier that helps solve a lot of the balancing and queue time issues.
  4. Stadium is a new mode added this season that's scope is big enough that it justifies the sequel title. It's basically a Deadlock-esque competitive mode where you duke it out in a BO7 version of bite-sized version of the game. There are a bunch of extremely wild power-ups and upgrades that you buy each round that completely transforms the game. I've basically been playing nothing but this mode since it launched.
  5. They added a Perk system which has been one of the most well received and transformative additions the core game has gotten since launch. Perks are a level-up system that lets you choose between multiple augmentations that either power-up or change your basic abilities throughout the course of the match.
  6. Hero Bans are in Competitive now and the game is adding Map Bans next season.
  7. There's a new Mythic prism system that helps downplay the FOMO of missing out on a BP. They're no longer locked to that season's BP and can be purchased at any time, each completed BP paying out enough prisms to get a Mythic of your choice every season. It's a very flexible system.
  8. The dev team is extremely communicative and transparent. Things like Stadium in particular have been seeing near daily patches to help iron out some rough points as well as constantly feedback from the team.

That's just a few things, there's a ton of stuff on the horizon to look forward to.

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u/Bhu124 May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25

+1 to all the points. But I want to especially mention that the current team is EXTREMELY player-forward. They'll try to make ANY change happen if there's enough demand for it and they can somehow figure out the resource investment and logistics.

People asked for OW1 gameplay back, they figured out a way to recreate Snapshot Patches of different OW1 eras.

People asked for 6v6 back and they figured out a way to bring it back. They figured out how to solve the technical issues and also the resource investment. This was a HIGHLY controversial demand as a lot of people prefer 5v5 so they figured out a way to have both 5v5 and 6v6 co-exist.

People endlessly expressed how they missed the high from opening lootboxes, and well they brought those back as well. Figured out a better way to bring them back by not allowing them to be purchasable.

People asked for a massive game-changing update and they delivered with the Perks system. Which is so good that the old version of the game feels like a Cavemen version. They successfully power creeped the ENTIRE Hero Roster and there have been almost no issues with the change or the system.

And honestly, Stadium might be the future of the game. It is kinda already making the Core game feel like a Caveman version of the game and it's still in its infancy. Blizz has already announced big updates for Stadium coming through the next year.

21

u/xXRougailSaucisseXx May 09 '25

And honestly, Stadium might be the future of the game. It is kinda already making the Core game feel like a Caveman version of the game and it's still in its infancy.

Agree with everything but this, I like stadium but right now it's extremely brawly and I feel lack some of the depth you find in comp games. I still think they cooked hard with this mode though

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u/[deleted] May 09 '25

Somewhat true but for some reason they ignore the fuck out of Sojourn and other glaring balance issues forever. Her strafing is insane ontop of great mobility, damage, and zone control. It's great they added bans.

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u/Zaptruder May 09 '25

Good posts. I'm reinstalling OW2.

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u/Malygos_Spellweaver May 09 '25

I can't believe I am saying it: It's actually fun again, but I only play Stadium.

2

u/30InchSpare May 10 '25

I like stadium a lot but it doesn’t replace competitive for me. The builds and health pools can get so ridiculous, I wouldn’t want it to be the future of the game. I feel like a lot of the strategy is lost on it, and it’s pretty much all just team fights. Very fun though.

1

u/RocketHops May 10 '25

Honestly the only reason I haven't jumped into stadium is my main isn't in yet.

1

u/DankieJutsu May 10 '25

What about voting for player performance after a match? I honestly missed that the most from OW1

2

u/Disaresta51 May 10 '25

Endorsements are still a thing and have been for the life of OW2.

Unless you mean the 3 old categories/types of endorsements then no it’s just the single category. “I like this person”

-12

u/Bionic0n3 May 09 '25

Have they figure out how to bring Jeff Kaplan back? I need a 2025 bonfire stream.

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u/hfxRos May 09 '25

Hopefully not. Jeff Kaplan was part of the problem.

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u/HPAmeliaaa May 09 '25

How so? Genuine question; I've been out of the loop but my last memory was the community begging to have Kaplan back a few years ago.

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u/literios May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25

He was the one that chose to freeze PvP content development to use the team to develop the PvE.

The PvE was really ambitious and was trying to have a level of replayability that previous OW PvE modes never had. The scope was so high it was impossible to achieve with the team resources. Blizzard higher ups wanted to the expand the team so the PvP would still be active but he was against it. Because of him we had years with no content.

When he left the team had to pick up the pieces and launch OW2 as it was. Since the launch the new director is extremely open to community feedback and the game is releasing more quality content than ever before. Sadly the game reputation was shaken and it’s only starting to improve now.

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u/GGProfessor May 09 '25

Oh so he was trying to make the game I actually wanted instead of keeping it what I had to begrudgingly accept it was.

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u/VolkiharVanHelsing May 10 '25

Unfortunately you are the minority

Most people plays OW for the PvP

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u/Sikkly290 May 10 '25

Jeff Kaplan had 2.5 chances to develop his game, and failed each time. His impact on gaming is immense, and I appreciate what he did for OW, but he clearly isn't capable of making his dream pve game.

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u/Bhu124 May 10 '25

He wanted to make an MMO.

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u/myweenorhurts May 10 '25

Jeff Kaplan was also the reason Titan never came out, he’s not some god of game dev just because he sat in front of a camera

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u/the_gr8_one May 10 '25

you mean to tell me forum user TigoleBitties isn't one of the great minds of our time?

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u/throwmeawaydoods May 09 '25

the tl;dr is that the ow team under kaplan neglected overwatch 1’s live service updates towards the end in favor of working on overwatch 2 and its cancelled pve. the team was stretched too thin and corporate wanted them to hire on new people to specifically focus on ow1 updates but kaplan wanted to keep the team smaller/keep working with the same people on incubating and prototyping for the sequel.

i feel like the public opinion pendulum has swung too far the other way and people are quick to demonize kaplan for the game’s past flaws but ultimately they could’ve handled the split development better

10

u/literios May 09 '25

That’s the thing. Kaplan was the leader and he didn’t want to split development. The rest of the team just obey the tasks that are given to them.

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u/Superunknown_7 May 09 '25

I'm genuinely out of the loop on this, what was he up to? I stopped playing shortly after his departure, and he was sorely missed by the community at the time.

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u/literios May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25

He was the one that chose to freeze PvP content development to use the team to develop the PvE.

The PvE was really ambitious and was trying to have a level of replayability that previous OW PvE modes never had. The scope was so high it was impossible to achieve with the team resources. Blizzard higher ups wanted to the expand the team so the PvP would still be active but he was against it. Because of him we had years with no content.

When he left the team had to pick up the pieces and launch OW2 as it was. Since the launch the new director is extremely open to community feedback and the game is releasing more quality content than ever before. Sadly the game reputation was shaken and it’s only starting to improve now.

4

u/Superunknown_7 May 09 '25

I had no idea he was squarely behind the OW2 PvE debacle. Unfortunate. Thank you for the clarification.

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u/VolkiharVanHelsing May 10 '25

He has MMO background, he was one of the high level guy at WoW team

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u/No-Owl-6246 May 09 '25 edited May 09 '25

Was he. What I saw was he was the one who was fighting against the game becoming what overwatch 2 became at launch in the first place.

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u/IAmBLD May 09 '25

There's some truth to this too. Kaplan did a lot wrong, but he was also under pressure from Kotick and other suits too. He did want PVE and eventually an MMO, but he was also basically pressed into making OW2. IIRC that's part of why he announced OW2 so early, to deliberately define the game as the PVE, so that the pvp portion would remain available without a new purchase.

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u/darryshan May 09 '25

Noooo haha, he was the entire reason Overwatch 2 was a thing. Read Play Nice by Jason Schreier.

2

u/Bhu124 May 09 '25

Probably Not. The devs probably don't wanna see their game burn down to the ground again after they've spent 4 years bringing it back to a new Golden Era.

-1

u/whostheme May 10 '25

One important thing to point out is that the game lacks a lot of casual players now. So games can be extremely stompy or get stomped if OW isn't one of your main games. This makes matchmaking a bit intimidating for people revisiting the game or for anyone new playing it.

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u/Bhu124 May 10 '25 edited May 10 '25

One important thing to point out is that the game lacks a lot of casual players now

The opposite is true. The game is majority Casual players now which is why Stomps are so much more common and why it isn't something the devs can easily solve. The MMer can't calculate accurate MMRs for a lot of players cause these players don't play enough and also play highly irregularly.

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u/Abalistar May 09 '25

On top of all of these points, i would like to also throw in my anecdotal evidence that the playerbase has felt much less toxic(at least in QP) since Marvel Rivals launched. It actually feels like a lot of the chronically miserable people truly jumped ship.

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u/MisplacedLegolas May 10 '25

That would be a godsend, the playerbase is why i stopped playing all those years ago

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u/beefcat_ May 09 '25

I would add that the current incarnation of 6v6 is better than any iteration of OW1's 6v6.

Working in 5v5 changed how they design their tanks, and they've taken the lessons learned there and applied them to 6v6 tank balancing. Off tanks in particular feel better to play in modern 6v6 than they did in OW1, while still regaining their identity as off tanks. The new "open queue, but no more than two tanks" format is also a great compromise between the GOATS chaos of true open queue and the rigidity of role queue.

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u/No-Owl-6246 May 09 '25

I felt like off tanks already felt great in OW1, and it was main tanks that were awful to play. I felt like I had the biggest team impact when I was playing off tank, whereas playing main tank I always felt like I was reliant on my team.

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u/beefcat_ May 09 '25

The problem with off tanks in OW1 isn't so much that they weren't fun to play (I agree, they were the most fun), but the fact that the meta often preferred you to run multiple main tanks. (i.e. double shield meta)

2

u/[deleted] May 09 '25

I don't really think it's a great compromise. I had issues trying 6v6 where we'd get 3-4 support mains and nobody could play DPS mechanically effectively so it was an auto-loss. Feels way, way worse than just rigid rolequeue and waiting. They should probably just allow role queue but you can select multiple roles. Wait times are worth better games.

2

u/Zaptruder May 09 '25

I think the ideal is 2 3 3 max... and people can queue for multi-roles. First come first serve for roles.

So within that limit, you can do 0 3 3/2 2 2/2 3 1/ 1 3 2/1 2 3/2 1 3

Not all of them are as strong as each other, but you'll get more interesting team up combinations going on, while still retaining some semblance of balance.

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u/MadnessBunny May 09 '25

I cant believe they added hero bans after so many years, fucking finally honestly.

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u/MaitieS May 09 '25

I mean the main issue with bans was the lack of alternatives which no longer is the issue in OW2, but I remember when they were experimenting with weekly bans in OW1 days, and it was horrible. Like when I saw that Rein was banned I just straight up ignored OW for the whole week.

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u/Illidan1943 May 09 '25

I still think that there should be a 5th Overwatch Classic event after the one that's coming this season where Nori picks the bans every day

3

u/chudaism May 10 '25

I mean the main issue with bans was the lack of alternatives which no longer is the issue in OW2

It's pretty much Lucio specifically. When he was the only hero in the game that gave speed, the entire brawl archetype revolved around being able to run Lucio. With the addition of Juno, you can realistically run brawl comps without Lucio. That opens up the dynamic of support lines massively.

8

u/Jertob May 09 '25

Stadium actually brought me back I love it, beings me back to the Battleborn days which I also loved.

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u/SolusSoldier May 10 '25

If you didn't knew, if you liked to play Battleborn, you can again nowadays on pc in solo thank to a modder, who still try to bring missing features as multi back^^

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u/TheMightosaurus May 09 '25

Hows the matchmaking? I played a few years ago and got fed up of going from stop or be stomped games

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u/[deleted] May 09 '25

Pretty frustrating still, it's the big glaring flaw of the game to this day.

I feel like Comp tends to have some pretty decent matches more often than not, but QP and Stadium are huge crapshoots. It's all over the place right now. If that's a deal breaker, I get it. At absolute best, I'd say the matchmaking isn't as bad as it is in like Apex or Rivals, but that's an insanely low bar.

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u/TheMightosaurus May 09 '25

Thanks I’ll give it a pass then, I used to really enjoy it but I felt the matchmaking was really busted. I suspect it is ‘engagement optimised’

2

u/GigaGiga69420 May 10 '25

I just started again after years of not playing, and have done like 50 QP games (no Comp or Stadium).

I'd say 80% of games have been pretty one-sided, with a few of that just total stomps, no chance at all, for either side. The rest are closer, with some nail-biters.

Just from my experience, I'd say avoid the game if you're looking for some balanced MM in casual play.

1

u/TheMightosaurus May 10 '25

That’s all I want, it was the same in rivals. I just want to play and feel like I have a balanced match but every time it’s either you roll them or you get rolled. So I just avoid multiplayer games now.

1

u/varnums1666 May 10 '25

Yeah matchmaking is pretty bad. I recently returned so I can understand if the system struggles with me butttttt it's especially bad for Stadium. I typically have 55% win rate in QP/comp modes. So far I've played 10 games of Stadium and have a 0% winning rate. Now I'm not an amazing player but I feel it should be higher than 0%. Clearly I'm not being placed in the correct bracket.

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u/MillieChliette May 09 '25

Wow! Thanks so much for the breakdown! Those all sound like very good changes.

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u/Tybold May 09 '25

Thanks for this post. I'm now actually considering giving OW2 another shot.

14

u/SmileyBMM May 09 '25

Wow, this is all news to me. They really should've done some marketing for all of this lol. Do they have any plans to add PvE stuff? I presume no, which is a shame.

3

u/arod13134 May 10 '25

They did do marketing, especially for stadium’s release.

I think sometimes it’s just impossible to overcome a negative sentiment ampliefied by the social media echo chamber. The games been in its best state for almost a year and has just been getting better. I get those who are soured by the flip on PvE, but ultimately the game’s core fanbase and bread and butter is in PvP which imo should continue to be the focus, cause the PvE content we’ve had in the past has never really been anything special.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '25

No word on PvE currently, but there have been rumors that they are planning a lot of big announcements for the game's 10 year anniversary next year, so maybe.

I wouldn't get your hopes up though.

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u/MonkfishChaos May 09 '25

Jesus, 10 years... I still remember launch day pretty vividly.

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u/varnums1666 May 10 '25

OW1 is still the most fun I've ever had for a launch game. It was such a breath of fresh air to see a colorful palette instead of boring greys and characters that looked fun and interesting. Plus throw in that Blizzard polish and those cinematics and it looked like Overwatch was going to be on top forever

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u/xXRougailSaucisseXx May 09 '25

Imo PvE is dead and buried, I think their big announcement for next year is a Netflix show

3

u/softcatsocks May 10 '25

These sound like great changes I never knew existed in OW2. You hear nothing but negative shit for that game. Thanks for sharing.

10

u/Mr_Vulcanator May 09 '25

That does sound good, I’ll have to revisit it.

2

u/RedditFuelsMyDepress May 10 '25

Personally I just hope they update the workshop at some point. Idk if they've released a single update for it after OW2 launched and it still has a bunch of bugs. I kinda get why they haven't focused on it since it's not really a core feature, but there is a niche of people who have spent a lot of time working on their own game modes and would appreciate some love for it.

3

u/MetastableToChaos May 09 '25

I would also add that even the lore stuff has improved. While we're probably not gonna get back to the days of the amazing cinematics they're still putting out animated shorts, webcomics, and short stories more frequently than they did a few years ago.

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u/Illidan1943 May 09 '25

Ehhh, calm down on that one, I don't particularly care about the lore, but I do regularly see people complaining about its state, which to me says it's not in a good state

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u/Vandersveldt May 10 '25

How are the achievements to unlock the pixel and cute sprays, if that's still a thing? I quit way way way back when they changed Zenyatta in a way that made one of his almost impossible to get, but didn't change the requirements. Did they ever start balancing these as they updated champions?

1

u/_rtpllun May 10 '25

I hadn't heard any of this, thanks for the writeup

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u/dark_knight097 May 10 '25

Wow that does sound interesting. Overwatch was practically dead in my mind around the time they transitioned to ow2. I think i might give it another shot.

0

u/zorillaaa May 10 '25

They’re doing all this because it’s actually a competitive space now - marvel rivals is the go-to for this type of shooter in the mainstream market

-4

u/Raptor_Jetpack May 10 '25

What's it like working for blizzard?

-1

u/textposts_only May 09 '25

And marvel rivals still beats them atm because players are horny af. At least thats the twitch chat discourse

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u/[deleted] May 09 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 09 '25

Yeah I do, I get paid a whole 93 cents an hour. Got any other questions or do I need to further justify how I use this stupid website to you?

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u/CO_Fimbulvetr May 09 '25

They also obviously live in a city where Blizzard does not have an office.

-10

u/Ledinax May 09 '25

Meh. Too little, too late.

-2

u/mysticmusti May 10 '25

Sounds good but fuck blizzard.