Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard and that could mean that Overwatch 2 will be an Xbox exclusive. There are still a lot of unknowns about Microsoft’s latest acquisition, but many are already speculating what will become of their beloved game franchises. Will Overwatch 2 be an Xbox exclusive or will it still be accessible to all?
Currently, Overwatch is playable on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC. With the announcement of Overwatch 2 and Microsoft’s recent acquisition, that might change. The game was announced at BlizzCon 2019 and has seen a decent amount of buzz since. Whether that buzz is good or bad is debatable as Overwatch 2 is shaping up to be a confusing sequel.
Based on our speculation, Overwatch 2 won’t be an Xbox exclusive. One of the major reasons why it won’t be is that Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella has said recently that “we’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all”. With that said, we can expect Microsoft’s commitment to community and accessibility to mean that they won’t lock these massively popular multiplayer games into Xbox exclusives.
Microsoft’s deal could even be a great thing for the gaming community at large. “We will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog,” says Nadella. By bringing new and old Activision Blizzard games to Game Pass and hopefully keeping them as 3rd party titles, Xbox will bless everyone with a win-win.
Another reason why Overwatch 2 won’t be an Xbox exclusive is esports. Overwatch is one of the most popular esports games out there today and to gatekeep that entire community of gamers would be an outrage.
Overwatch 2 is not expected to release any time soon. Along with Diablo IV, Blizzard has delayed Overwatch 2 until at least 2023. They have said that there will be quarterly updates, so be sure to check back in for more information.
With Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, we definitely don’t want to see beloved games become Xbox exclusives. But more importantly, we hope that Microsoft can somehow settle the rampant sexual harassment within Activision Blizzard. The entirety of the acquisition is perplexing still, but we hope that good things can come of it for gamers and game developers.
Overwatch 2 is expected to be released in 2023.
