Alongside major overhauls to Diablo 4 and World of Warcraft, Blizzard surprised fans this year with a massive rebrand for Overwatch. Coming after the runaway success of Marvel Rivals, fans have wondered if Blizzard felt pressure from the superhero hero shooter.
In a prior interview, Overwatch game director Aaron Keller admitted that Marvel Rivals did “have an impact on” the team. However, in a new interview, Overwatch GM and SVP of Blizzard Walter Kong admits that NetEase’s shooter had the team “scared”.
On launch, Marvel Rivals decimated the hero shooter competition with rampant player counts. Even following Blizzard’s aforementioned relaunch, Rivals and OW trade blows in popularity often. However, the runaway success of the superhero game had Blizzard worried.
“[It] scared us a bit,” Kong told PC Gamer in a recent interview. While Blizzard was able to take their time with updates before, the team noticed the excitement for Rivals’ rapid update structure with constant new heroes.
Kong explained that the release of Rivals and its inventive updates pushed the team to “be less risk averse” with their content. “We felt that if we stayed conservative then we’re definitely going to feel some of the competitive pressure [from Rivals]”.
The GM didn’t explain whether or not anything within Marvel Rivals specifically influenced new mechanics or heroes, but the game did have an effect. Rivals’ update structure is frequent and substantial, and NetEase’s hero shooter isn’t afraid to introduce brand-new things to players that change the status quo.
For example, last year’s introduction of Deadpool saw the game’s first multi-role character. The game even saw the introduction of a horde mode PvE experience and even a Times Square social hub. Rivals may have started as a hero shooter, but it’s no longer just a hero shooter, especially as the developer strives to create a “moving Marvel anime experience”.
Following the game’s massive relaunch update, Blizzard is planning to introduce at least three heroes across 2026 to Overwatch. Additionally, the game will see a new map, new mythics, and “much more” later in the year, according to the game’s roadmap.
