It’s 2018 and developers are starting to return to the office from their holiday vacations. With this return to work, many developers are wishing their fans a happy new year and updating players on the status of their games and their studios. Jeff Kaplan took to YouTube in the latest Developer Update from Blizzard about Overwatch to thank players for an awesome 2017 and give some hints towards what they are working on for the future.
He confirms that new skins and events are on the way–including the return of the Lunar New Year event for Year of the Dog, the next evolution of the Uprising event, and the anniversary event–and that the new Blizzard World map that was announced last year will be releasing soon. Next he offers up some interesting information about next Overwatch hero. “We are well along the path on hero 27,” Kaplan reveals, talking about the 27th hero that will be added to the game. “We think the hero is very awesome. We think the hero is very needed,” he continues. The team isn’t exactly sure when hero 27 will release, but they say it’s less important to lock down a date than it is to make sure they get the hero right.
Blizzard currently has the new Overwatch hero in internal testing, alongside some new maps that have yet to be announced. “We’re also thinking about heroes beyond hero 27 as well,” Kaplan adds, seemingly confirming that 2018 will be another huge year for Blizzard’s shooter. The rest of the video talks about tweaks to competitive, and continuing to develop the story of Overwatch and how to further that storyline. Kaplan says that these hints are merely the tip of the iceberg for what Blizzard is working on, and we can expect to get more details from the team as each new development gets closer to deployment.
What role do you think the new Overwatch hero will take? What role is currently most needed in the game? Speculate along with us as we wait for more updates from Blizzard.
