Overwatch 2's long-promised flagship PvE mode has been scrapped

Overwatch 2 developer Blizzard has spoken out to reassure fans upset by its decision to ditch plans for a PVE Hero Mode, to say it still had “a lot of great PvE content” still in the pipeline.

“A clarification that I wanted to make is that, while we made the decision to cut Hero Mode + Talents, we have a lot of great PvE content coming this year,” Overwatch 2 executive producer Jared Neuss wrote on Twitter this morning.

This amounted to “big story missions, new cinematics, co-op events and single player Hero Mastery missions” for the game – even if its major Hero Mode has been left on the cutting room floor. More on all that below.

Blizzard has cancelled Overwatch 2’s much-trumpeted but long-delayed PvE mode, admitting development “hasn’t made the progress we would have hoped.”

PvE was presented as a flagship feature of Overwatch 2 when the team-based shooter sequel was unveiled in 2019, but, as development dragged on and 2022 arrived, Blizzard announced it would be “decoupling” PvE from PvP in order to get the game into players’ hands sooner.