Diablo IV will also see a delayed release due to leadership changes at Activision Blizzard. All’s not gloom, however, as the next season of the Overwatch League will still use an early build of OW2.
Per an earnings call earlier today, Activision Blizzard announced that the release date for Overwatch 2 and Diablo has been delayed once again.
Why was Overwatch 2 Delayed?
As we have worked with new leadership in Blizzard and within the franchises themselves, it has become apparent that some of the Blizzard content planned for next year will benefit from more development time to reach its full potential. [..] We are now planning for a later launch for Overwatch and Diablo IV than originally envisaged.
As stated in the presentation, it seems that the main reason is a change in leadership. This was confirmed by Jason Schreier from Bloomberg as Jen Oneal has stepped down from her co-leadership position with Mike Ybarra in just under three months. As a result, despite numerous lawsuits and enormous backlash from the community regarding behavior against marginalized employees, Blizzard is now once again being headed by a single lone white male.
Worse still, it seems that Blizzard employees themselves didn't even find out about Oneal's departure until the shareholder call--something that given the circumstances only makes Blizzard look worse.
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Will OWL be Played on Overwatch 2?
A minor silver lining is that despite the delay in the Overwatch 2 release date, the Overwatch League seems poised to be going full steam ahead. Florida Mayhem's VP of Esports Operations Albert Yeh pointed out that on the Q3 report, the Overwatch League will run on an early build of Overwatch 2, with the 5v5 competitive multiplayer mode.
It would be safe to say that Overwatch fans all over the world are disappointed with Activision Blizzard this year. Without a major character update since April of 2020, people are getting exhausted and some of them have even become numb to this news. Overwatch 2 was first announced at Blizzcon in 2019 and exactly two years later, little more has come out, other than some pros testing the new maps and hero designs.
So while Overwatch League will return, players just want new content. But it seems that it's still going to be a while before anything more comes out. We still don't have a release date for Overwatch 2.
Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Overwatch news and updates.
