Hello everybody! We have beloved listening to your enthusiasm for Stadium and most of all, we have beloved watching you all play it. There’s already been a lot creativity with builds. Not that we had been shocked by that—we knew you wouldn’t disappoint!
Earlier than I get into present adjustments and future developments, I would like to present a bit of historical past of Stadium in hopes that it provides you with some context as to the place it’s headed. Plus, I just like the title “Previous, Current, and Future”!
Previous
Stadium emerged as an concept earlier than Overwatch 2 launched. The truth is, earlier than it was offered to the crew, one in all my youngsters created the primary pitch doc with a pattern stage and offered it to me! Stadium has come a good distance since then, however I all the time consider my son when enjoying.
Early variations regarded a bit of totally different from the mode you’re enjoying at this time. Stadium was initially targeted on offering as a lot selection as doable. It was arrange as an eight-team event. Every spherical, gamers picked from random upgrades to make use of in fight phases of Group Deathmatch or versus AI, shedding well being in the event that they misplaced the spherical. But it surely was tough to create a coherent technique or builds to counter opponents when the choices had been made by means of random choice.
This modification into the format you see at this time displays a shift in our pondering: we nonetheless need there to be selection from match to match in Stadium, however selection is not the best precedence. We would like you to really feel balanced and aggressive, whereas making epic builds by means of strategic selections based mostly on the efficiency and Hero compositions of everybody within the match.
Current
Talking of retaining issues balanced and aggressive, the crew is already planning tweaks based mostly on the suggestions and information we’ve obtained since launch.
Whereas we regularly see a giant spike in play time shortly after a glittery new occasion launches, play time in Stadium has been a bit stickier. In its first week, roughly 50% of all play hours in Overwatch 2 had been dedicated to Stadium!
On the subject of builds and Hero stability, we’ll be gathering information over the subsequent few weeks to see what adjustments must be made for the midseason stability patch, if not earlier.
There are a lot of gears turning behind the scenes in the case of Stadium. The event crew answered a few of your burning questions in a Reddit AMA earlier this week and we’ll be sharing extra insights and Stadium information in a particular Director’s Take subsequent week!
Future
Should you like enjoying Stadium, you may be pleased to know that we have now quite a lot of huge plans for it. There shall be seasonal updates to Stadium which is able to embody the discharge of latest Heroes, maps, recreation modes, methods and options, in addition to the same old care we put into different modes of Overwatch.
What’s coming to Stadium over the subsequent two seasons? Lots!
The crew simply put out an in depth roadmap for Stadium that reveals extra of our future plans for the mode.
Heroes: Our latest addition to the Overwatch roster can even be the primary new Hero added Freja is headed to Stadium and she or he’ll arrive with the Season 16 midseason patch. However she’s not the one Hero on the best way! We’ll have new Heroes added each Season, since we predict including new heroes is critically essential for Stadium. Every time we have launched a brand new addition internally, they’ve completely shifted the meta and the best way we thought of placing collectively a construct.
Sport Modes: We’re planning on releasing a brand new recreation mode inside Stadium named Payload Race and two brand-new maps will launch with it. On high of that, we’ll be integrating a brand new mechanic that we’ve been calling “Quests” internally. At the beginning of every match, gamers will choose from a random set of quests that may dole out rewards as soon as targets are accomplished.
Techniques: Whereas we’re actually excited for brand spanking new content material in Stadium, we predict methods that affect the best way you set a construct collectively can have an excellent higher influence. In Season 17, we’ll be releasing a construct importer and exporter. This is not going to solely permit gamers to place collectively builds exterior of a Stadium match after which choose them inside a match, it should additionally permit gamers to pick out from neighborhood builds as nicely.
You’ve additionally made your voices heard on a subject that’s essential to all of us: Cross-Play! Since Stadium has a aggressive system, it follows the foundations of our core aggressive mode, which doesn’t permit PC and Console gamers to group. Since that is the one option to play the mode, we agree, and we’d love to do one thing about it. We’re at present investigating what it will take to make an unranked model of the mode. This may permit teams of associates to play collectively and would give us the power to make different adjustments as nicely, probably introducing a best-of-5 format to the mode.
Earlier than signing off, I would wish to reiterate the crew’s dedication to the opposite core modes of Overwatch. We’re nonetheless pouring as a lot time, power and fervour into these as we all the time have. Stadium is not competing for these sources: it’s giving us extra alternatives to ship Overwatch in a brand new, thrilling approach.
We won’t wait so that you can see what’s coming there, particularly Season 18. It may be a banger! Have enjoyable with Stadium and, as all the time, let’s make an amazing recreation.
