It Might Be A While Before You Get To Play Overwatch 2

Fans hoping for some big news regarding Overwatch 2, such as a release date, from the upcoming BlizzCon Online may be in for a disappointment. According to the Blizzard Career page, a large number of positions have yet to be filled, meaning it may be some time before anyone will be able to play Overwatch 2.

Even a quick glance at the Blizzard job board reveals that some critical roles on the Overwatch team remain open, such as lead mission designer and lead game producer. Diving a little deeper into the portal allows visitors to arrange the available positions by projects, including Overwatch. There are 41 open positions currently listed for Overwatch. While not all of these openings are tied explicitly to the Overwatch sequel, such as a senior esports producer position, it still indicates that some significant gaps need to be filled by Blizzard before the game's development reaches a playable state.

While some of those 41 positions may not be crucial to Blizzard's ability to make progress on Overwatch 2, such as an environment concept art internship position, others indicate leadership roles that remain vacant. A listing for a senior game producer position focused on missions describes its primary responsibility as driving the "development process for story campaign, missions & PVE modes." The fact that such a pivotal position remains vacant could indicate that core elements of the game, such as the new emphasis on PVE missions, may still be in the early stages.

Job vacancies at Blizzard are not the only indication that Overwatch 2 may still be a ways off. While official updates since the 2019 announcement of the game have been scant, sources have already indicated that the game's development is progressing slowly. Some of the most reliable information on the game's status comes from leaker and Twitch streamer Metro, who correctly predicted the reveal of Overwatch 2 itself ahead of its BlizzCon 2019 announcement. Unfortunately for Overwatch fans, Metro commented on the game's status once again in a recent Twitch stream, saying, "It sounds like it's very far off."

Of course, the lack of official information from Blizzard hasn't kept fans from speculating over potential release dates. However, the combination of vacant positions and rumors of a slow development cycle seem to make a 2021 release increasingly unlikely at this point. As difficult as it may be, f  ans will just have to wait until BlizzCon Online to see what Blizzard is ready to share about the progress and potential release window for Overwatch 2.