Overwatch's PvE story missions aren't completely off the table, but don't expect the cancelled campaign to make a comeback anytime soon. Game director Aaron Keller says Blizzard would be open to exploring smaller PvE experiences in the future, though a much larger story-driven campaign would likely need to become its own game.
During a press roundtable I attended, Keller was asked whether there was still room for playable story missions in Overwatch, particularly as the team recently concluded its year-long narrative arc, The Reign of Talon. He pointed to both Overwatch's earlier Archives event missions and its narrative-focused event missions, explaining that both generated plenty of excitement but struggled to keep players engaged.
"When you look at the campaign that we ran, I think that while there was a lot of excitement there, and it did drive the story forward, it didn't really get played the way that we wanted it to," Keller says.
He pointed to a familiar problem with Overwatch's event content: a big initial surge of interest followed by a rapid decline in players. On top of that, PvE missions require considerably more development time and resources than other event formats.
Keller said this...
