Blizzard insists Overwatch 2 is doing well despite review bombing
Since Overwatch 2 first came to Steam on 10 August it has faced huge amounts of review bombing.
Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller responded to the review bombing on 18 August, though he is still feeling positivly toward the game.
Blizzard says Overwatch 2 is “in the best state it’s ever been”
Click to enlargeAaron Keller, the director for Overwatch 2, addressed the review bombing on Steam, and some of the key issues that the negative reviews bring up, in a recent statement on the Blizzard website. However, he also spoke about what has recently been added to the game, and how the core players reportedly feel the game is “in the best state it’s ever been.”
In the post, he said: “Overwatch 2: Invasion launched last week, and it was our biggest season launch ever! The release included work from every section of the Overwatch team, and we’ve been looking forward to sharing what we built with all of you for a long time. We made big additions to the Core PvP game and other features, a new Battle Pass, and a Null Sector theme that we received great feedback early on. We also launched the first chapter of our Story Missions and ran a Co-op event alongside their release. We've heard from many of our core players that the game is in the best state it's ever been, and many have told us that it feels like we're really listening to their feedback and that this season is a culmination of that. It’s so awesome to hear.
“Illari, our newest support hero, was introduced this season. Players have given us a lot of positive feedback about her. Our balance goal for the release of Illari was to make sure that she felt strong (but not overpowered!) at launch. I think we hit that goal.
“A big part of this season was the release of our first set of Story Missions, which has seen more discussion than any other part of the season. Some of the discussion has been critical, and I’ll get to that, but one of the things that I loved seeing was the Legendary runs that people were streaming online. These missions on Legendary are hard. Super hard. Most people can't complete them at this difficulty, and those that did had to devise custom strategies and team comps to get past the hardest encounters… We feel like we learned something with the level of difficulty and are excited to apply and expand on it for future Co-op content.”
Keller addressed the review bombing on Steam
Currently sitting at over 134,000 negative reviews on the platform, Overwatch 2 is still defending its title of being the worst-rated game on Steam over a week since its launch.
In the Director's Take blog post, Keller said: “We also launched on Steam last week, and, although being review-bombed isn't a fun experience, it's been great to see lots of new players jump into Overwatch 2 for the first time. Our goal with Overwatch 2 has been to make the game more accessible than ever for more people than ever before.
“Many of the reviews on Steam mention the cancellation of the much larger component of PvE that was announced in 2019 as one of their primary reasons for dissatisfaction with the game. I get that. That announcement was about an ambitious project that we ultimately couldn't deliver.
“If we can’t turn back the clock, then what can we do? We can keep adding to and improving Overwatch 2. That is how we move forward. This means more maps, heroes, game modes, missions, stories, events, cool cosmetics, and features - an ever-expanding, evolving, and improving game. This is the future of Overwatch. One where we will continually create and innovate on what is making the game great now for the players who are playing now.
“Overwatch is such a unique game and world. When our heroes are all working together to complete an objective, there is really nothing else like it. Jump in--there's more to come!”
While the number of negative reviews continue to climb on steam, which is the first platform that has allowed the game to be reviewed at all, many of them contain genuine criticisms of the game and how it does not live up to their expectations.
Given how eager Blizzard appear to be to take on feedback based on the Director's Take, it will be interesting to see how the game continues to develop from here on out.
