Overwatch 2 players are still holding onto hope that PvE comes back

Overwatch 2’s PvE campaign has long been canceled, but some recent hints have some Overwatch players holding onto hope that it may come back sooner rather than later.

Overwatch recently announced an upcoming “Overwatch Spotlight” event where new information will be released about the future of the game. While Overwatch typically holds an event like this every year to tease new content, the timing of this event seems especially crucial as Marvel Rivals dominates the genre.

While the dev team stressed this would primarily be a PvP update, that hasn’t stopped some fans from holding onto the hope that there may be some PvE news coming with this update. And best of all, there might actually be a case for this hope after all.

Could PvE be coming back to Overwatch?

One X user noted in a popular post that the original plan for Overwatch PvE was to release missions every 18 months starting on Season 6, which began on August 10, 2023. They also noticed that Overwatch Spotlight, to be held on February 12, is suspiciously close to eighteen months after August 10.

You know the craziest thing about this though? The original plan for Overwatch PvE was 3 missions every 18 months

Meaning that the next story missions would have been released on February 11 pic.twitter.com/YFiFy3S4zc

— Ren@💜comms open ✨ (@realizeren) January 30, 2025

“I’m just saying, it could all be an insanely MASSIVE coincidence,” wrote the user. “But I’m watching them.”

And in more of a jokey speculation, Overwatch news account Overwatch Cavalry noticed that the link providing details about the Overwatch Spotlight event ended with the letters “PVE.” Coincidence? Most likely. But that didn’t stop the Overwatch team from commenting on it officially.

Not the URL link literally having PVE in it 😭😭😭

That has to be a coincidence there’s no way that was intentional LMAOOOOOO https://t.co/s7ZoNXxclY

— Ryno || Rocket Science arc 🚀 (@Rynothoratin_) January 29, 2025

“The random link generator is trolling all of us today, huh?” responded the official Overwatch X account. (Some fans did point out that PvE was never explicitly denied in their response.)

Realistically, if PvE were to return to Overwatch in some fashion, it’s not super likely the announcement will come from the Overwatch Spotlight event. The Overwatch team stressed that this event will be PvP-focused and change the way the game is played in ways players have never seen.

Blizzard

That being said, there is actually some other bits and pieces out there that do support an eventual return of PvE. About a month ago, fans noticed that Jorge Murillo, former Level Designer for Overwatch 2’s PvE content, was rehired. Additionally, Microsoft and Activision were spotted forming a smaller team to work on new games for the Overwatch IP.

Some fans have even gone as far as to note that there was never actually an official confirmation from Overwatch about the permanent cancellation of PvE.

In other words, is PvE likely to return to Overwatch soon? Realistically, probably not. But what is true is that there may be some hope out there for players who are hoping for some more lore-based gaming in the future, especially as Marvel is seemingly gearing up to release some PvE content of its own.