Overwatch 2 took a hit after Marvel Rivals launched. Filling a similar niche as a hero shooter, many of its featuresappealed to fans who were burnt out on Overwatch 2, like 6v6 gameplay and new heroes being added regularly.
Since then, we have seen Overwatch 2 receivea bunch of new features too, like hero bans, new abilities, and the huge addition of the Stadium mode - which quickly attracted comparisons to Marvel Rivals because it can be played in third-person. Despite this, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller is adamant that this was not in response to Marvel Rivals, and that this was all in the works long before its competitor launched.
The Overwatch 2 Director Knows That Marvel Rivals Is A Competitor, But Says That Recent Updates Were Not In Response To Its Success
These comments come from a chat Keller had with the streamerJay3, as reported byGamesRadar+.
“I think that competition is healthy,” Keller said. “It does force people to innovate more and to always be putting your best foot forward, but I don’t think what you’re seeing in Overwatch 2 right now is a response to Marvel Rivals.”
He continues, elaborating on the ongoing development of Overwatch 2. “So much of what we were doing this year - from perks to stadium to map voting, we did full hero bans - so much of what we’re doing here and all the heroes we’re releasing has been in the works for over a year as part of a new strategy for the game to have a big annual kick off to the year.”
Others on the Overwatch team have backed this up. When I got the chance to speak with two of the devs, game designer Dylan Snyder and lead level designer Ryan Smith, I was told thatthird-person gameplay had actually been considered back before Overwatch 2 had even launched. “When we animate and when we do art and all that stuff, there’s a first-person version and a third-person version of stuff, and [it] has always been that way since day one,” Snyder told me. “So it has always been there as an option.”
And yet, to pin it all on Marvel Rivals' success was a tempting narrative just a few months ago, given all of the goodwill in its own community. But as with any other live service, the playerbase has started to hit back at NetEase, complaining about hero balancing andgeneral dissatisfaction during Season 2. Season 3 has just kicked off, so it remains to be seen if it can recover from this.
