Meanwhile, Overwatch remains an immensely popular arena shooter, with frequent content updates and new characters. The type of game, like Team Fortress 2, that does not see "sequels" per say, but rather an ongoing evolution. The game is 3 years old.
What I'm trying to say is, in October 2019, the idea of "Overwatch 2" seems entirely, entirely absurd.
Not sure if you recall, but this was a HUGE fire-and-pitchfork controversy. #BoycottBlizzard became a real thing. I was among them, permanently cancelling my accounts, because that mattered to me.
Less than one month later, Blizzcon 2019 happened. If you remember the atmosphere at that moment, people weren't even sure if BlizzCon would happen at all. It seemed like it may simply be cancelled.
And what happened at BlizzCon?
Announcing... OVERWATCH 2. The sequel to the popular arena shooter. Will there be new characters? Uh, probably, but definitely there will be reskins! Okay, when's it out? Uh... eventually, one day, TBD!
That was 2019. Blizzard announced Overwatch 2 in 2019. The amount of time between that announcement and today is roughly equal to the amount of time between Overwatch 1 being released, and the controversy.
Am I insane? Is it not extremely, extremely obvious why Blizzard made the "surprising" move to announce a game that no one expected, and to this day has not been released?
As someone who put down Overwatch a while ago, after having actually enjoyed it for a while, I have no desire to pick up OW2.
Activision-Blizzard's merger tells me that 'Classic Blizzard' will never again exist, and that I should discard what goodwill I have left towards either publisher.
Overwatch's monetization model was not the best (they helped pioneer loot boxes, with no information on odds), and now they're locking new characters behind a Battlepass for OW2. F2P players will be able to unlock the hero eventually, but according to current leaks, competitive modes will lock out players who don't have all characters unlocked.
Diablo Immortal is something I've never played, but I've enjoyed listening to some of the drama. After Blizz cracked down on third-party sellers of the game's real-money currency, some people had their Eternal Orb balances go negative(!!!) when they removed the Orbs from their account. With a negative Orb count, players get locked out of participating in some of the game. The only by-the-books way to restore that functionality is to buy more Orbs from the store. One headline you can easily find is a player with over $30k worth of 'Orb Debt', as in, they would need to spend that much money in order to get to a balance of 0.
Acti/Blizz's monetization schemes have become more manipulative over time, and as of now, it's leaching into how people can actually play the game. Swipe your credit card, or you're gonna be behind.
Another can of worms, which I will label instead of open: Blizzard's recently-unearthed history of sexual harassment in the workplace, and etc etc.
Let me paint you a picture of October 2019:
In Hong Kong, this is happening, and it's a big deal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932020_Hong_Kong_pr...
Meanwhile, Overwatch remains an immensely popular arena shooter, with frequent content updates and new characters. The type of game, like Team Fortress 2, that does not see "sequels" per say, but rather an ongoing evolution. The game is 3 years old.
What I'm trying to say is, in October 2019, the idea of "Overwatch 2" seems entirely, entirely absurd.
Then, on October 6, this happens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitzchung_controversy
Not sure if you recall, but this was a HUGE fire-and-pitchfork controversy. #BoycottBlizzard became a real thing. I was among them, permanently cancelling my accounts, because that mattered to me.
Again, this was a BIG DEAL. https://www.pcgamer.com/brian-kibler-says-he-will-not-take-p...
Less than one month later, Blizzcon 2019 happened. If you remember the atmosphere at that moment, people weren't even sure if BlizzCon would happen at all. It seemed like it may simply be cancelled.
And what happened at BlizzCon?
Announcing... OVERWATCH 2. The sequel to the popular arena shooter. Will there be new characters? Uh, probably, but definitely there will be reskins! Okay, when's it out? Uh... eventually, one day, TBD!
That was 2019. Blizzard announced Overwatch 2 in 2019. The amount of time between that announcement and today is roughly equal to the amount of time between Overwatch 1 being released, and the controversy.
Am I insane? Is it not extremely, extremely obvious why Blizzard made the "surprising" move to announce a game that no one expected, and to this day has not been released?