'Overwatch 2' Replacing 'Overwatch' Is The Perfect Analogy For Post-Quarantine Life

After years of egregious abuse of its workers, and continued leadership from a wet sock full of wadded up paper bags aka Bobby Kotick, Blizzard just can’t stop f*cking up. Their latest move feels absolutely bizarre. The flailing company is strong arming Overwatch players into playing Overwatch 2. Because as of October 4th, Overwatch won’t exist. Just like the old lives we’ll never be able to go back to.

In an AMA with Blizzard, the devs revealed their decision to reverse a previous promise to make both games playable with each other. There’s a lot of symmetry between the evolution of the two games and our own lives post covid lockdown. We all came out of quarantine feeling suddenly older and just like the original Overwatch characters re-appearing in the new game, we all have a lot more gray hair and a few new (emotional) scars. 

Just like the Overwatch maps which have been slightly modified for the new game, we emerged, blinking and stunned, into a landscape that feels familiar, but not quite the same. Instead of the 6v6 game mode which Overwatch players are familiar with, Overwatch 2 will have 5v5. Mirroring the shrinking economy. Ok maybe that one is a stretch, but you see our point.  

Everything’s going to feel off balance for a while. But maybe that’s a good thing. We don’t need to go back to the way things were before. Maybe they weren’t that great to begin with. Overwatch players have been complaining for years that the game is tired, played out. Just like the old power structures which kept us down pre-quarantine. Now we’ve entered a new era. True, our fundamental rights to life, liberty, and happiness are being taken away. But that’s the supreme court’s fault, not Overwatch 2.