It was turbulent times for the company, and key Overwatch developers departed between 20, including fan-favorite game director Jeff Kaplan. Lots of other things happened to the world and Blizzard around that time, too: the pandemic brought work home in 2020, and in 2021 Activision Blizzard very publicly reckoned with its toxic work culture. All the while, Overwatch 1 received minimal attention with repeat seasonal events, an occasional deathmatch map, and zero new heroes added after 2019. Fundamental questions remained unanswered as Blizzard delayed Overwatch 2 out of 2020, and then out of 2021. "What we're hoping to do with Overwatch 2 is redefine what a sequel means," Kaplan said. Kaplan acknowledged that Overwatch 2 wouldn't be a conventional sequel, but assured fans that it would feel like a sequel-sized product.
There would be new modes, maps, and heroes, but those would automatically carry over to Overwatch 1 players and the two games would still matchmake together…weird.
Then former game director Jeff Kaplan took the stage and started saying things that seemingly contradicted the whole '2' part of Overwatch 2: A glimpse at talent trees in Overwatch 2's now-canceled Hero mode.