Earlier this year, Blizzard announced Overwatch 2 would be arriving early so that it could be used as part of the 2022 season of the Overwatch League. The arrival of Overwatch 2's PvP and the delay of its PvE shook up all expectations for the multiplayer shooter. This past week's confirmation of Overwatch 2 going free-to-play has stirred things up all the more, leaving Overwatch fans questioning just what Blizzard intends to do with the PvE half of the game.To start, Blizzard has now confirmed that its plans to break apart the previously announced "full" game of Overwatch 2 into smaller seasonal updates extend not just to PvP, but also to PvE. There will no longer be a single release delivering all of Blizzard's planned Overwatch 2 PvE content. Instead, sometime in 2023, Blizzard will begin releasing pieces of its overall PvE content update by update.While the scope of these individual PvE updates has yet to be broken down, Blizzard has said that all the content previously detailed for PvE in Overwatch 2 is still planned under the new release plan. That includes over 25,000 voice lines, extraordinary Overwatch 2 stories, cooperative multiplayer experiences, and individual hero progression paths including talent systems. Overwatch 2 will still move the story of the Overwatch universe forward in a way it was previously unable to, just through seasonal chapters rather than in one big package.
Overwatch fans likely have one big question regarding how Blizzard is changing its plans for PvE. That question is whether the PvE of Overwatch 2 will still be a premium offering or if it too will be going free-to-play. The answer is that Blizzard isn't ready to talk about that yet. When asked, Blizzard said it will share more information on how it plans to deliver PvE in Overwatch 2 at a later date.
As for what's known about Blizzard's seasonal content releases, a cadence for updates has already been confirmed. Overwatch 2 will officially launch in October and alongside it will launch Season 1. Each season will last for 9 weeks, after which a new update will be delivered and a new season will begin. It's unconfirmed whether PvE updates will be delivered every season, bi-seasonally, or irregularly.
Blizzard's decision for Overwatch 2's PvE is likely to be met with some controversy. The PvE half of the game was looked at as an opportunity to expand the overall Overwatch audience in a way that PvP couldn't. This seasonal model for PvE content is going to be an altogether different experience and may not capture an audience like a full game could have. Whether the new approach to Overwatch 2's PvE will succeed remains to be seen.
Overwatch 2 PvP arrives in early access for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 4, and PvE arrives in 2023.