"We Should Have Listened Sooner" Says Overwatch Director About Controversial 5v5 Format

"We Should Have Listened Sooner" Says Overwatch Director About Controversial 5v5 Format

From TheGamer (Written by Vaspaan Dastoor) on | OpenCritic

While Overwatch is now on the top of its game, it was overshadowed by Marvel Rivals only a few months ago. NetEase's hero shooter was taking in all the players who were frustrated with the state of the game and some of Blizzard's decisions. Chief among these was the controversial call to move away from a 6v6 format in favor of a 5v5 one.

For a while it looked like Marvel Rivals would be running away with it, until Blizzard's big rebranding of Overwatch, and the addition of five new heroes. However, game director Aaron Keller thinks Overwatch wouldn't have been on such a downward trajectory if Blizzard had addressed the 5v5 format sooner.

"This was one of the most, if not the most, controversial gameplay decisions in Overwatch's history," said Keller during a panel at this year's GDC (thanks PC Gamer). The switch to 5v5 in 2022 not only required a lot of balancing changes due to the lack of one Tank hero, but the community wasn't too fond of it either. Fans had taken to various forums, demanding that the 6v6 format return.

"We waited at least a...

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