Blizzard shared the latest developer update video with a special New Year’s message from Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan, who talks about upcoming content and an update on a new hero that is in the works.
The video starts out with a look back at what Overwatch introduced in 2017, which started with the release of the Oasis map, the release of three new heroes in Orisa, Doomfist, and Moira.
Jeff then talks about what we can expect to see in 2018, starting with some of the more immediate content including the Overwatch League skins that will soon be added to the game. The brand-new map Blizzard World will also release soon.
He also had a bit to tease for the next hero:
“We are well along the path on hero #27. We think the hero is going to be awesome, we think the hero is very needed. The hero—we’re not really sure exactly when the release date is. The release date is less important to us than getting the hero right. We have the hero in internal testing, and so far we’re having a ton of fun and we’re making a lot of great progress. We’re also thinking of heroes beyond #27 as well.”
Furthermore, Jeff said that the team is also working on some great new maps that we’ll learn more about in the future. Beyond that, Blizzard is looking to continue improving on competitive play with short-term strategic and tactical improvements. Some of these changes are already implemented in the new competitive season that launched, but the team is also looking into long-term adjustments as well.
We’ll also be getting a ton of new additions to the base lootboxes sometime soon. These will be new skins and other items that won’t be restricted to time and will be around for all future lootboxes.
Overwatch is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
