Blizzard exploring new game modes, features, and engine tech for Overwatch

Game director Jeff Kaplan is notorious for his Overwatch updates, whether it be through YouTube videos, on stream with Overwatch personalities, or through lengthy forum posts. It seems like Kaplan always has something new to share with Overwatch fans, but Blizzard’s been silent lately on the update front. But it hasn’t been intentional, Kaplan said on the forum last night. The Overwatch team has just been busy getting work done on the game.

“We’re also in a bit of a ‘head’s down’ mode trying to get a lot of work done,” Kaplan responded to a forum post complaining “silence” from Overwatch’s developers. “We also had a few people traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday (we’re based in the US) and took advantage of the slow week to allow developers to work on whatever they wanted. The end result was pretty cool. We explored new game modes, new features, and new engine tech. It was all really rough but some of the prototypes will actually turn into features some day.”

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There’s no huge news Kaplan had to share, but wanted to give fans an update as to what’s coming down the pipeline. Unsurprisingly, most of it is top secret—meaning he can’t share with us. Here’s the list:

• Top secret stuff
• Hero balance (Kaplan believes Overwatch is more balanced than folks in the forum believe, he added.)
• Quality-of-life updates, like user interface changes
• New hero prototyping and development
• New game mode prototyping (These are a ways off, Kaplan said.)
• Feature development
• Ongoing event support with skins and other cosmetics
• More top secret stuff
• Even more top secret stuff

It sounds like there’s a lot going on with the Overwatch team at once, and that’s not surprising. Blizzard continues to balance the game and add new skins and other cosmetics, all while supporting the Overwatch League and creating new playable elements for the future.

Blizzard’s next Overwatch event is Winter Wonderland, which is scheduled to begin today. There’s at least seven new skins coming with the event, alongside some older playable brawls and a new, snow-covered Blizzard World map.