Jeff Kaplan reveals details on length of Overwatch 2’s story

Michael Gwilliam
Blizzard

Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan has revealed new details regarding Overwatch 2’s PvE story campaign and how long it will be. 

Overwatch 2 was announced at BlizzCon 2019 where attendees were able to play a sneak peek at one of the game’s PvE missions taking place in Rio de Janeiro where heroes Tracer, Reinhardt, Mei, and Lucio fight against swarms of killer Omnic robots.

While the mission, visual upgrade, and new ‘Push’ game mode were well-received, many were unsure of the upcoming sequel was worthy of having the number ‘2’ in its title and viewed the game as more of an expansion.

Speaking with The Washington Post, Kaplan insisted that the upcoming game “isn’t just DLC or an expansion.”

BlizzardKaplan says Overwatch 2 is too big to be an expansion.

“I play a lot of games. I can’t think of a single DLC or expansion of this magnitude,” the Blizzard vice president added.

So how long will Overwatch 2 be? According to Jeff, fans will be getting their money’s worth as it will feature “a complete story experience like you would expect from any triple-A blockbuster game”

While the team is still working on the game, Kaplan provided no confirmation on the exact size but stated it would be “significant”.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that additional PvE content is released after the game’s launch.

As for why the team is so focused on the story side of things, Kaplan explained that because the Overwatch heroes are so dynamic, people who are not primarily PvP gamers have taken to the Blizzard shooter. This would be something for that player base to sink their teeth into.

“There are so many people who are deeply engaged with our characters because we’ve put these heroes at the forefront,” he stated. “They would love to engage with the characters in a way that is a little bit less high pressure to them. So we felt like, you know, if we could deliver one really massive feature to our fans, it would be to blow out the co-operative side of the game.”

While the team is hard at work on Overwatch 2 and not devoting as many resources to seasonal events, that doesn’t mean the original game won’t be receiving major updates.

Kaplan said his team had doubled in order to work on the sequel and there is “really cool content and plans” coming in 2020. “It’s a challenge, but it’s one that we’re excited to meet,” he said.

Unfortunately, there’s no release date for Overwatch 2 just yet, but hopefully, we can get some concrete news before BlizzCon 2020.