Say Goodbye to Overwatch — Overwatch 2 Replaces Original Game in Battle.net

The original Overwatch game will soon see greener pastures.

An ask me anything (AMA) from Blizzard Entertainment's team behind Overwatch 2 mentioned that the original Overwatch game will soon be replaced by its upcoming sequel Overwatch 2 when it enters "early access" on October 4.

The original Overwatch game was released on May 24, 2016, which makes it six years old by the time its sequel comes out.

Overwatch 2 Development Team Statement Details

Blizzard's team that is responsible for the development of Overwatch 2 said that it would replace the original game for the current Live Service when asked about the meaning of "early access" for Overwatch 2 on the r/Games subreddit.

The development team stated that it is using "early access" to indicate that Overwatch 2 is just the start of many new things to come for the game, such as new heroes, maps, features, and even content that will be coming seasonally - 9 weeks.

The team has also released a roadmap detailing some of the content planned for seasons 1 and 2, which includes a new hero for both seasons, and a new map for season 2.

Meanwhile, larger pieces of Overwatch that have always been a part of the vision for Overwatch 2 will be released to the game as part of Blizzard's live service, which includes the PvE campaign that is planned for 2023.

Games Radar is not surprised about Blizzard's decision to switch all resources over to Overwatch 2 since the company admitted that its focus on the game left the original 2016 game struggling with "a lack of content."

Not much else was shared about the upcoming game, however, the developers did mention that all currencies and loot boxes from the original game to Overwatch 2 will be transferred when the latter game enters early access.

Sins Of 'The Refunded'

But the fact that Overwatch 2 will replace the original 2016 game could be a wrong move for Blizzard.

You may remember that Blizzard did the same with Warcraft 3 and Warcraft 3: Reforged, wherein the latter game replaced the former in Battle.net, Blizzard's online service that enables players to play online with other gamers, per Computer Hope.

Warcraft 3: Reforged, which is marketed as a remake of the original 2002 game, replaced the original in every way. As such, features that have existed for nearly 20 years have been removed, and updating the Battle.net client made the original 2022 game worse, per PC Gamer. This removal of features and patches is unavoidable; they will be removed regardless of whether players bought Reforged or not, making the original 2022 game a casualty of Blizzard's drive to make Regordged and the original game compatible.

Additionally, the online multiplayer games and tournaments featuring the game suffered disconnection errors, preventing anyone from getting a match done, as Screen Rant reports.

Due to the mishaps Blizzard did to the much-believed classic 2002 Warcraft 3 game, Reforged received a Metacritic user score of 0.6, making it one of the worst-reviewed games of all time.

Although it is unlikely that there will be compatibility issues, since the two games involved are almost the same, the replacement could mean that the patches that may have improved the original 2016 Overwatch game could get thrown out the window.