Overwatch Almost Released Sojourn Early

gamerant.com:

Over the past few days, Blizzard has taken the opportunity to fully unveil its first new Overwatch 2 character, Sojourn. That includes a delve into Sojourn's origin story, her abilities, and a cinematic look at gameplay involving the new character. What isn't planned is the early release of Sojourn, however. That will have to wait for the launch of Overwatch 2's beta, currently planned for April 26. But it may come as a surprise that Blizzard came close to launching Sojourn early.

In a Blizzard dev livestream discussing Sojourn's design, some insight into the studio's plans for the character was revealed. Art director Dion Rogers explained that Blizzard «juggled» with its plans to launch Sojourn. The studio considered launching her as part of the original Overwatch's content, apparently, but ultimately decided against it. Rogers mentioned the possibility while discussing the importance of adding a black female hero, so it's easy to see how having her be a part of Overwatch's roster would be an exciting opportunity. Now they'll have missed out on that opportunity.

Overwatch Reveals Sojourn's Abilities in New Gameplay Video

As it is obvious, Blizzard decided instead to keep Sojourn for Overwatch 2. Rogers explains that the decision was made in part to ensure she wasn't treated as a «random addition» to Overwatch's cast and instead received the development time and priority to create a story that she deserved. Overwatch 2 was a better fit for those goals, leading to where Sojourn is now. Rogers explains that Sojourn has become a «centerpiece» to Overwatch 2.

There was some controversy over the recent Sojourn reveals due to misaligned expectations. Overwatch fans were expecting a full gameplay reveal for Sojourn, but it was not