In a recent developer update, Blizzard unveiled a new map for Overwatch called Kanezaka, and within that video, game director Jeff Kaplan stated that news of Overwatch 2 would be unveiled at BlizzCon Online in February.
While the original trailer for Overwatch 2 was unveiled back in November 2019, Kaplan explained what's been happening at the studio and how the team ended up creating a whole new map for the original Overwatch.
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What Kanezaka means for Overwatch 2
"We wanted to grow the team size in order to make the game that we're making, and we hired this really amazing level designer called Morton," Kaplan said. "We asked him to experiment on a free-for-all Deathmatch map, and it was so good that the team wanted to bring it to full production."
Kanezaka is available to play right now on the public test server, and it's currently slated to launch in early 2021. It's likely to coincide with BlizzCon Online in February.
While it's a bit surprising that we're getting a new map for the original Overwatch, apparently the map has a deep connection to Overwatch 2. "There's a lot of easter eggs in the map," Kaplan says, "Not only about future Overwatch lore. [...] You should really pay attention to every piece of graffiti and every location in this."
Kaplan finished talking about Overwatch 2 by stating "We still have a ways to go, just to manage expectations." It's more than likely we won't see this game until late 2021 or even 2022.
