Recent ‘Overwatch 2’ delay sparks concern from Overwatch League pros

Overwatch 2 didn’t have an official release date, but Activision Blizzard revealed the highly anticipated game is even further from the horizon than expected in a third-quarter update with investors Tuesday.

That sparked concerns from professional players, coaches and followers of the Overwatch League -- and there are more questions than answers. How can the casual base truly understand a game they can’t play?

Dallas Fuel assistant coach Go “Aid” Jaeyoon told The Dallas Morning News that he was worried about that possible disconnect.

The Overwatch League, which is still scheduled to start in April 2022 on an early version despite the game’s delay, could be showcasing a game the public can’t replicate.

“It would affect how much they look forward to that. Nobody would understand what it feels like to play in a 5-vs-5 if the release date gets more and more delayed,” Go said via interpreter. “It may be more confusing for the rest of the audience. It’s very different to watch the game when you know it as opposed to not knowing how the game feels to play.”

Go’s concerns were shared by much of the community. San Francisco Shock superstar Matthew “Super” DeLisi simply tweeted “Overwatch 2077,” referencing the problematic release of popular sci-fi story-mode game Cyberpunk 2077, which was released too early with bugs and was eventually removed from the PlayStation store.

Activision Blizzard can’t afford for that to happen with Overwatch 2, which may explain delays. Activision Blizzard has weathered several leadership changes after lawsuits were filed against the company for poor workplace conditions for women.

The result caused dilemmas with game development too.

Even if the league were to start on time, there’d have to be significant resources in place for the professional scene to avoid a mess similar to what pros dealt with during the introduction of hero pools in the 2020 OWL season.

Ex-Dallas Fuel assistant coach Louis “Tikatee” Lebel-Wong shared his own thoughts on Twitter, and expanded on those in a conversation with The News. Hero pools were problematic.

“Sometimes pro players were trying to practice new hero pools, and couldn’t practice what they were supposed to because those pools weren’t available in the actual game,” Lebel-Wong said. “There were also Contenders and college teams trying to mirror the Overwatch League but were on a different schedule. They’d be finding out hero bans the day before matches.”

The early version of Overwatch 2 would need to be available to pros, and semi-pros they might scrimmage against, to make for smooth practice sessions.

As of now, there’s isn’t much coaching or practicing that can happen because the current version of Overwatch may look nothing like its sequel. Go was able to identify a few key differences in gameplay style with the 5-vs-5 transition, such as how different each role will have to be played.

That doesn’t solve anything if the future continues to be uncertain.

Go and Fuel head coach Yun “RUSH” Heewon held conversations and identified some strategies for Overwatch 2, but that could be useless.

“Honestly, we also kind of joked around that this entire conversation is pointless,” Go said. “Even if we go in depth, that might change and we just don’t know what to expect.”

Were Overwatch 2 to have a post-2022 release date, there’d be an entire season played on a game only a few could truly understand the nuts and bolts of.

OWL teams are trying to prepare, but the future remains uncertain.

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