Overwatch 2 director explains PvE pivot

gamedeveloper.com:

Days after revealing that Overwatch 2's long-touted PvE mode was being reworked, Blizzard Entertainment has now broken down the why of it all. 

In a new blog post, game director Aaron Keller explained why the hero shooter is introducing a semi-replacement in the form of Story Missions. Starting with the incoming sixth season, they're billed as a linear story pushing the narrative of Overwatch 1 and 2 forward, which was one of the initial draws of PvE (aka Hero Missions).

After describing the new Story Missions as "leaps and bounds" above the game's prior PvE content, he gave extra context that provides a deeper insight into the franchise's larger evolution. 

The original Overwatch was made from the bones of a canceled FPS/MMO project from Blizzard simply known as Project Titan. Per Keller, Blizzard always planned to return to that initial hybrid scope, and one where the PvE would serve as the middle point between the base FPS and MMO endpoint. 

A PvE portion of the game went into development not long after Overwatch 1's launch, which he described as an "exciting but gargantuan vision." It's known that part of the PvE plan was for Heroes (of which there are currently 37) to have expansive skill trees and abilities, and new enemy units. 

But by Keller's own admission, the Hero Mission development was troubled early on. "We were trying to do too many things at once," he confessed. "We were never able to bring together all of the elements needed to ship a polished, cohesive experience."

As he said earlier in the week, working on those Hero Missions was pulling resources from the PvP experience, and negatively affecting both halves. "Our players had high expectations for it, but we no longer felt like we could deliver it. We needed