Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller has taken the time to not only respond to the game’s unfortunate review bombing on Steam, but also to reassure fans how much content is waiting ahead for them.
For those unfamiliar, Overwatch 2 launched on Steam on August 10 and quickly became the worst user-reviewed game on the platform ever. As of the time of our story, Overwatch 2 had a score of just 0.96 based on an approval rating of 10% from 92,028 votes.
On Blizzard.com, Keller addressed the review bombing in stride. While he admits it’s not fun to have your game be the target of these online attacks, the joy of seeing new players join the game far outweighs it.
“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,” Keller wrote. “Our goal with Overwatch 2 has been to make the game more accessible than ever for more people than ever before.”
Keller then talked about the controversial decision to cancel Overwatch 2’s long-awaited PvE Hero mode and how that has surely been a factor in the review bombing. In addition, he shared the vision for Overwatch 2 going forward and promised it will be one worth seeing through.
“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,” Keller said. “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.”
Despite the PvE Hero mode being canceled, Overwatch 2 fans will still have smaller PvE story missions to look forward to, including those found in the game’s latest season – Invasion. In this new season, the story missions see players fighting back against Null Sector and will show how such heroes as Lucio, Reinhardt, and others met before Winston banded together Overwatch.
For more, check out how Overwatch 2 has now moved on from early access and how Activision Blizzard admitted Overwatch 2 engagement and player investment is declining.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.