Developers of Overwatch 2 Plan to Implement Hero Bans and Other Significant Updates

The developers of Overwatch 2 have announced that they are considering the reintroduction of hero bans, implementing map voting, and hosting in-game tournaments as they continue to explore new features.

The developers of Overwatch 2 have previously stated their intention to introduce experimental features to enhance the player experience. Apart from the introduction of a new 5v5 format, the team is reportedly exploring the possibility of reintroducing hero bans, as well as implementing map voting and tournaments.

Experienced Overwatch players are familiar with hero bans. In the past, during Overwatch 1, certain heroes were temporarily banned for a week, resulting in Pharah becoming incredibly dominant and causing many hit-scan heroes to also be banned.

Despite being aware that such a situation could occur, the community’s desire for the feature to return has not diminished, particularly after witnessing its use in professional play.

In a recent developer interview with Overwatch 2 streamers Flats and SVB, the Overwatch 2 devs revealed that this is among the features currently being considered for inclusion in OW2.

We could see some big changes to #Overwatch2 in future 👀Alec Dawson confirmed that the team is now discussing Hero Bans, Map Voting, and Tournaments more seriously and that they eventually want to build towards these features. pic.twitter.com/p0buHTtEmv

— Overwatch Cavalry (@OWCavalry) August 2, 2024

Game Director Aaron Keller recently touched upon the future of Overwatch, stating that there are currently some incredibly thrilling developments taking place within the team.

He suggested, “How can we introduce people to the magic of Overwatch? We have a few ideas on potential releases that could help us achieve that.”

“The core game could potentially benefit from various enhancements, such as increasing its competitiveness, introducing more strategic elements, or providing players with more agency. This could be achieved through various means, including implementing a map voting system within or outside of the game.”

Lead Hero Designer Alec Dawson also mentioned that the team has been having more serious discussions about topics that were previously only considered casually. These discussions have focused on issues such as hero bans, in-game tournaments, and map voting.

The idea of implementing map voting has been mentioned briefly in the past. This feature would provide valuable insights into the community’s favorite and least favorite maps.

Overall, it is evident that players can anticipate many exciting new experiments and changes being gradually implemented into the game.