Hello everyone! We loved to hear their enthusiasm for the stadium, and above all we loved to see them all games. There was already so much creativity with builds. Not that we were surprised – we knew that they would not disappoint!
Before I deal with current changes and future developments, I would like to give a little stadium history in the hope that you will give you a context where to go. I also like the title “Past, Present and Future”!
Past
The stadium became an idea before Overwatch 2 came onto the market. Before the team was presented, one of my children created the first Pitch document with an example level and presented it to me! The stadium has put a long way since then, but I always think of my son playing.
Early versions looked a little different from the mode they play today. The stadium initially focused on providing as much variety as possible. It was set up as a tournament with eight teams. In each round, the players were selected from random upgrades to use Team Deathmatch or AI in combat phases, and lost health if they lost the round. However, it was difficult to develop or create a coherent strategy to counteract the opponents if the decisions were made by random selection.
This change to the format that you see today reflects a shift in our thinking: We still want that there is a change from match to the stadium, but variety is no longer the highest priority. We want you to feel balanced and competitive while making epic buildings through strategic decisions based on the performance and the Hero compositions of all in the game.
Currently
The team is already planning from the feedback and the data that we have received since the start.
While we often see a big increase in the season shortly after a sparkling new event, the season in the stadium was a bit stickier. In the first week, around 50% of all hours in Overwatch 2 were devoted to the stadium!
When it comes to builds and heroic balance sheet, we will collect data in the next few weeks to determine which changes for the balance patch have to be made in the temporary season, if not earlier.
There are many gears that rotate behind the scenes when it comes to stadium. The development team answered some of their burning questions in A reddit but At the beginning of this week and we will share further knowledge and stadium data in a special director in a special week!
Future
If you like to play stadium, you will be happy to know that we have many big plans for it. There will be seasonal updates in the stadium that will include the publication of new heroes, maps, game modes, systems and functions as well as the usual care that we insert into other Overwatch modes.
What will come to the stadium in the next two seasons? A lot!
The team has just published an extensive roadmap for the stadium, which shows more of our future plans for the mode.
Heroes: Our latest addition to the Overwatch service plan will also be the first new hero to add that Freja is on the way to the stadium and that she arrives with the Midseason Patch of season 16. But she's not the only heroine on the way! We will have added new heroes every season because we believe that adding new heroes for the stadium is of crucial importance. Every time we have published a new addition internally, you have the meta and the way we think about putting together a build.
Game modes: We plan to publish a new game mode in the stadium called Payoad Race, and two brand new cards will start. In addition, we will integrate a new mechanic that we have described internally as “quests”. At the beginning of each game, the players select the players from a random sentence of quests that give the rewards as soon as the goals are completed.
Systems: We are very enthusiastic about new content in the stadium, but we believe that systems that influence the way you put together a build can have even greater effects. In season 17 we publish a build importer and an exporter. In this way, players can not only put together builds outside of a stadium game and then selected them within a game, but also the selection of players from community building.
You also have to hear your voices on a topic that is very important to all of us: Cross-play! Since the stadium has a competitive system, it follows the rules of our nuclear competition mode, which means that PC and console players cannot be grouped. Since this is the only way to play the mode, we agree and we want to do something about it. We are currently investigating what it would need to create an undisclosed version of the mode. This would enable groups of friends to play together, and we can also make other changes and possibly introduce a best-of-5 format into the mode.
Before I register, I would like to repeat the team's commitment to the other core modes from Overwatch. We still pour as much time, energy and passion into them as always. The stadium does not compete for these resources: it offers us more opportunities to deliver overwatch in a new, exciting way.
We can hardly wait for you to see what's going on, especially in season 18. It will be a banger! Have fun with the stadium and as always, we make a great game.
