Some early UI images from Overwatch 2 Featured online through Artstation, an online art portfolio platform where artists from different backgrounds showcase their work. Originally caught by Attack of the Fanboy, here, Jayson Kirby, former UI designer at Activision Blizzard, posted various early UI designs for the upcoming Team FPS.
This includes presenting the main menu, which includes battle pass Options, weekly challenges, player endorsement levels, and a variety of new endgame screens. While these screens are from a development version of the game, which is pretty old now, at least two years by Jason’s own admission, it could offer clues as to where Overwatch 2 is headed.
Battle Pass seems like a natural step forward for Overwatch 2, as it’s a progression feature openly accepted at this point in many live-service games in the space. With Overwatch, it does feel a little scary to get a cosmetic you really want. At least with Battle Pass, one can work toward a clearer goal.
Interestingly, about two years ago, former Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan sat down to talk about Overwatch and shared their thoughts on Battle Pass in an interview with PCGamesN. “I think Battle Passes are cool. Monetization aside, Battle Passes are an interesting engagement mechanism.
If you look at games like Diablo 3, they have what’s called a season tour, which is essentially a battle pass. It’s not monetized in any way, it’s just a bunch of cool stuff – these are things you should be doing in the game, and we’ll reward you if you do. I think it’s a great system. ”
With that in mind, the revelation of Battle Pass showing up in the early UI design isn’t all that surprising, though actually seeing it and having Jeff talk about it’s virtues is day and night. For now, we’ll just have to wait until official word drops and see if the feature is a success.
For more Overwatch 2 news, check out our report on the April 26 closed beta later this month. Also, we wrote a while back about which games might make their way to Game Pass – Overwatch is a serious contender!
