Blizzard Leisure has unveiled its Overwatch 2 Stadium roadmap for 2025, teasing a few of the heroes and options it plans so as to add in Season 17, Season 18, Season 19, and past.
The group behind the pioneering hero shooter dived into the particulars of its new mode’s previous, current, and future with a Director’s Take blog post from recreation director Aaron Keller. It comes with a shock summer season roadmap now that the mode has been accessible for a bit of longer than every week, whereas additionally clarifying how the mode received its begin and the way it’s carried out up to now.
Stadium Will get 7 New Heroes This Summer
The Stadium rollout will press ahead when new Harm hero Freja joins its restricted roster with a mid-season patch for Season 16, but it surely’s Season 17 in June that may actually kick issues up a notch. Junkrat, Sigma, and Zenyatta will probably be added to the strategic multiplayer mode’s listing of playable heroes presently, bringing alongside the Esperança Push map and Samoa Management map with them.
Blizzard can even use this time to additional flesh out how Stadium works by including in issues like Unranked Crossplay, new all-star rewards, customized video games, further instance builds, and an possibility to save lots of and share builds. It’s unclear if all heroes and options will arrive at the begin of Season 17 or if they are going to be launched all through the season.
Season 18 sends in Overwatch’s gorilla icon, Winston, as a playable character, with Sojourn and Brigitte set to affix, too. Route 66 and London maps can even be a part of the pool presently, as will a Payload Race recreation mode, which comes with two new maps, a Stadium trials characteristic, and, lastly, the freedom to Endorse your teammates.
Blizzard’s transparency relating to Stadium’s growth comes with the assurance that “a number of new heroes,” each from Overwatch 2’s current roster and characters which have but to be revealed, will probably be added to the mode each season. For Season 19 and past, a brand new China map is on the means, with a Draft Mode characteristic, consumables, merchandise system tweaks, and extra additionally in the works.
How has Stadium Carried out so Far?
The Overwatch 2 group additionally shared Stadium stats that reveal how gamers have determined to spend their time with Blizzard’s new mode. It’s presently “eclipsing” Fast Play and Aggressive, making it Overwatch 2’s most performed mode with 2.3 million matches performed throughout 7.8 million hours throughout launch week alone.
It secures the prolonged recreation mode’s stats at greater than double what was seen with Overwatch Basic’s launch week. Different fascinating stats crown Lucio as each the hero with the highest win price and the lowest choose price, whereas gamers have managed to spend 900 billion Stadium Money when selecting 206 million gadgets for his or her builds.
Keller’s Director’s Take touches on a number of vital particulars associated to the growth of Stadium, too. One vital notice noticed the recreation director confirming the mode has been in growth earlier than Overwatch 2 launched. Although the group has touched on this timeline in the previous, his remark ought to assist squash prevailing fan theories that Stadium was born out of Blizzard’s want to compete with Marvel Rivals, which launched December 2024.
Keller says Blizzard will sustain the communication going ahead, promising to launch extra perception into Stadium subsequent week with a further Director’s take. In the meantime, he additionally confirms that, whereas Stadium has entered the dialogue as a massively fashionable addition to Overwatch 2, Blizzard stays dedicated to sustaining different core experiences similar to normal Fast Play and Aggressive choices.
“Earlier than signing off, I would prefer to reiterate the group’s dedication to the Core modes of Overwatch,” Keller clarified. “We’re nonetheless pouring as a lot time, power and fervour into these as we at all times have. Stadium is not competing for these assets: it’s giving us extra alternatives to ship Overwatch in a brand new, thrilling means.
“We will not wait so that you can see what’s coming there, particularly Season 18. It will be a banger! Have enjoyable with Stadium and, as at all times, let’s make a terrific recreation.”
Overwatch 2 introduced Stadium to gamers when Season 16 launched final week. It’s a part of Blizzard’s ongoing initiative to reinvigorate its participant base, which started with an all-encompassing Highlight presentation in February. It’s led to the return of loot packing containers and an improved Steam ranking as gamers have a good time what some really feel is the finest Overwatch expertise followers have seen in years.
Whereas we watch for extra udpates, you possibly can take a look at our information to be taught extra about how Stadium works. You may also see our suggestions for the finest Tank Builds, DPS Builds, and Help Builds.
Michael Cripe is a contract contributor with IGN. He is finest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. You should definitely give him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).