Massive Overwatch Schedule Changes Coming This Summer

In a recent interview, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan revealed that this summer’s content calendar will not be similar to its predecessors.

Blizzard is known for its decision to stick closely to a consistent schedule when it comes to in-game content. Sure, some major features like the Workshop tend to appear only when they are absolutely ready. But as far as consistent content (i.e. heroes and events) is concerned, the developers managed to release them on a reliable timeline annually.

This allows Overwatch players to have a general idea of when new things are coming. Although details are kept under wraps, they know exactly what to expect. Kaplan, however, confirmed that this will not be the case this summer.

He was quoted as saying:

“It’s going to be a very different summer. Our players like to look back at the calendar and say ‘this is what always happens, and this is when I expect things’. There’s going to be some mix-up this summer in when things land.”

According to typical schedule Blizzard follows, two major content releases are happening every summer. For starters, hero number 31 is scheduled for release. Next is the inclusion of the yearly Summer Games in-game event, which brings a deluge of cosmetics and skins.

Kaplan did not necessarily reveal which of these might be changed. The previous schedule from the studio suggests that the upcoming hero is going to be revealed in either late June or early July, with the official release being the end of July. Summer Games, on the other hand, are slated for a release at the very beginning of August. This has always been the route Blizzard takes every year.

As of this moment, it remains a mystery as to how the changes will affect Overwatch. It could just be a matter of schedule, or Blizzard really intends to introduce totally new content players did not expect. There is a possibility it could be the latter, as its addition would explain the studio’s decision to update the release schedule.

It is worth noting that Blizzard has yet to introduce a new event since the first iterations. In 2018, the video game company said that players should not expect any major new event, simply because their developers were interested in making more major in-game features.