It hasn't been that long since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard. Now, the community, and the game devs, are realizing what the consequences of such a huge deal is.
Microsoft just revealed that they have laid off around 1,900 employees in the gaming sector, as well as canceled a survival game that had been in the works for 6 years. But these layoffs don't just affect new and upcoming games, but live service games as well.
Overwatch 2 had huge promise with new lore, PvE and many more exciting features announced ahead of its release. Well, while the prospect of these things was already small, the news of these layoffs seem to have been the final nail in the coffin – and the community knows it.
Overwatch 2: Long Awaited Features Likely To Never Be Added
Overwatch Lead Narrative Designer got hit by the layoff by u/xLuciel in Overwatch
Overwatch 2 is dead. Or well... bleeding out right now. With Microsoft firing over 1,900 people from their games division, a huge chunk of talent that had been working on Overwatch 2 has been let go. Going through Twitter, there are multiple people announcing their departure from the company, many of whom were part of the development team working on Overwatch 2.
One notable person that was let go is Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie who was a Narrative Designer on Overwatch 2. What does this mean? Well someone who was working on narrative of the game, this includes lore and PvE stuff, as well as events, has been let go so we likely won't see much of a progression on this end.
If Overwatch development slows again because of the layoffs, I do not want to see a single soul complaining at the devs. Not a single one. Direct your disappointment to the greedy higher ups that get to live without fear of losing their jobs
— bunnimoni (@bunnimoniOW) January 25, 2024
Add-in the fact that multiple artists from the Overwatch 2 team have also been let go, which could also impact new maps, new characters and new designs in general for the game.
This doesn't look good for the future of the game. Players had already been disappointed in the lack of PvE and questioned the switch to Overwatch 2 from Overwatch. Now we have a clear answer as to why certain updates won't happen.