Recently, rumors have cropped up regarding Blizzard possibly cancelling Overwatch 2‘s sole reason for existing—the PvE mode, prompting popular creator Asmongold to call the company out. “Are you kidding me? Is this a joke?” the streamer said while covering the first reports of PvE being in trouble.
The rumor gained traction following a March 18 article by Kotaku, which claimed the PvE development staff was hit especially hard with Microsoft’s layoff spree following its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Additionally, the studio was plagued with unattainable goals of “Blizzard quality,” as well as company higher-ups reportedly saying the project would need at least 400 people to go through development properly. Asmongold took on all of these arguments in a March 20 video and stream where he called Blizzard out for not delivering on years of promises and saying smaller studios did more with fewer people.
Asmongold particularly compared Blizzard with developers of Path of Exile and Palworld, and briefly even mentioned the studio size of Helldivers 2. “I bet they could do it with fewer than 400 people,” the streamer said. In the report, a source claimed to Kotaku that Blizzard wanted at least 800 people split into two studios with 400 staff each to be able to develop and deliver a fully functional duality of PvP and PvE content.
Asmongold also emphasized how Blizzard slowly but surely toned their tales of PvE down over the years, first making it the primary selling point of Overwatch 2 and eventually, if the reports are true, scrapping the mode altogether.
But perhaps the biggest problem faced by the Overwatch 2 PvE team, which has reportedly been laid off in large numbers, was the pursuit of the abstract concept of “Blizzard quality.” Due to never being able to fulfill these “Blizzard quality” standards, the PvE was stuck in limbo and never went anywhere, the report alleges. Asmongold poked fun at this whole concept, saying, “By this logic, Diablo 4 is ‘Blizzard quality,’” followed by a moment of deafening silence.
Diablo 4 certainly has been facing negativity recently, with a mount skin costing more than the game and a lackluster Gauntlet mode (also sharply criticized by Asmongold). Overwatch 2 also sits at an “Overwhelmingly Negative” review score on Steam, and with the PvE mode now likely out of the picture entirely, it remains to be seen if the once-great flagship franchise will be able to redeem itself.
