Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller has addressed criticisms that Blizzard Entertainment “dropped the ball” when it comes to things like story content, PvE, and animated shorts.
The face of Blizzard’s popular hero shooter opened up about the team’s struggles during an interview with content creator Jay3 and Overwatch 2 voice actor Conor McLeod. Although the multiplayer title is largely known for its team-based gameplay, Keller recognizes that some story content will need to “come back” for Overwatch 2 to be “firing on all cylinders.”
“One of the things that we hear our players talk about a lot, you see online… it feels like Overwatch has dropped the ball when it comes to story and lore,” Keller said in response to a question from McLeod. “You kinda see that. We used to put a few more of the big animated shorts out than we do nowadays.”
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Overwatch animated shorts are a sore spot for fans. Blizzard originally built excitement with a series of high-quality cinematics from 2016 to 2023, with each highlighting abilities for characters like Reinhardt, Hanzo, Genji, Mei, Bastion, and more while also showing how many of its 43 playable characters fit into the larger story. What began as somewhat frequent lore drops eventually started to fizzle out around the release of Overwatch 2 in 2022. It’s been nearly two years since fans received a 3D-animated cinematic.
Frustrations with the lack of animated shorts reached a boiling point when Blizzard announced it would be scrapping its PvE Hero ambitions in summer 2023. With a long-promised story-driven mode canceled and animated short releases crawling to a halt, Blizzard had to start from scratch. Although it’s been years without a significant update, Keller says the Overwatch 2 team hasn’t completely left story behind.
“To speak frankly about it, we did have a big plan to go after story in the game. That was the PvE side of it with the campaign and everything like that,” he added. “That didn’t work out. So, it was kind of a bit of a reset moment for us when that happened, and we would like to get back to it. I think one of the best parts of Overwatch is the universe and the characters that are there. That’s definitely a goal of ours to get back to it. There’s been a bit of a step backwards that we had to take in order for us to be able to start moving forward on it again.”
Blizzard announced a gameplay facelift for Overwatch 2 in February of this year. During its breakdown, the studio announced a major new PvP game mode called Stadium as well as the return of free loot box cosmetic rewards, two new Heroes, and a gameplan for the next year of content. Many of these additions, including a fundamental gameplay change called Perks, have launched since, signaling that Blizzard has found its footing as it makes good on significant promises.
Many of these changes have been accepted with open arms by the Overwatch 2 community, but as new players flock to see why fans are suddenly talking about the 2016 hero shooter again, the desire for story content still echoes across Reddit threads and X/Twitter posts.
One idea many fans – including McLeod – would love to see is an Overwatch TV series. Keller says he’s not opposed to the idea, going as far as to say “we’d love to do that.” It’s unclear how, when, or if Keller and the Overwatch 2 team will be able to enter another golden age. One thing is clear: Keller knows Overwatch fans want more story content.
“I think for us to say that Overwatch 2 is firing on all cylinders, we need to have some of that come back,” Keller said.
Overwatch 2 is currently in the midst of Season 17: Powered Up, which features a selection of retro-gaming-inspired skins, Mythic cosmetics for Reaper and D.Va, new Stadium Heroes, and crossover content with G.I. Joe. Time will tell if Blizzard is able to regain lost ground, but in the meantime, you can read about how many players are finally enjoying Overwatch again after years of downtime. You can also check out the 2025 Stadium roadmap for a closer look at some of the content set to arrive in the near future.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
