Overwatch 2 on hero bans: “I’ll probably get in trouble for saying this, but you see it come out in Marvel Rivals, you know?”

Since the launch of Marvel Rivals, tensions have been brewing around Blizzard's hero shooter. However, the recent Overwatch 2 Spotlight stream gave some hope to the community in terms of future content and updates. In an interview, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller talked about the internal pressure to make the best game possible through the upcoming Perks system, Stadium game mode, and more. He also revealed some interesting details about hero bans in Overwatch 2.

In an interview with GamesRadar, Keller acknowledged that his team had been discussing hero bans for years. However, it was only a couple of years ago that they created an internal prototype for the feature. Keller revealed that Overwatch 2 hero bans had not been on the schedule, either.

"It was just a passion project by some members of the team that they put together," he told GamesRadar. "And ever since then, it's gone off and on schedules. I think we had it on the schedule to do it for this year, for 2025, and there had always been some resistance to it."

He described the resistance as stemming from the restriction of players not being able be their preferred hero. Keller also explained that the feeling of a particular hero being banned, or a counter to a hero being banned, could lead to a team gaining an advantage over the other.

"I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but you see it come out in Marvel Rivals, you know? And you realize, those objections were valid, but they were given way too much credence," Keller said. "So, it's much more obvious to us now. And while we were planning on doing it anyways, we do feel a lot better about its release."

According to the Overwatch 2 Spotlight stream from Feb. 12, hero bans are scheduled for Season 16. During the stream, senior systems designer Gavin Winter talked about them briefly. He mentioned wanting a fast system and Overwatch 2's own take on it.

"We know you've been asking for this feature, and we're looking forward to building our take on it," Winter said, asking players not to worry. "We want a system that punches up at the strong or frustrating heroes without punching down on weaker niche picks. We also want a system that's very fast — that gives you nuanced control over outcomes and that we can tweak based on your feedback."

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more Overwatch 2 news and updates.