Overwatch Game Director, Jeff Kaplan, has reiterated that the launch version of the game will be the same as the one players have access to during its beta, with the exception of bug fixes. In response to a fan question, Kaplan explained that the Competitive Play feature, which was available in the closed beta, was removed from open beta in light of feedback that prompted Blizzard to improve the system. However, the developer has a “ton” of post-launch content planned.
The version you are playing now is what will go live at launch (there will be some bug fixes etc…). We also have Competitive Play, which was a feature that was live in Closed Beta. We removed it from Open Beta because we received a ton of great feedback on how to improve the system. We had a tough choice. It would have been awesome to have the feature in for Open Beta and Launch. But we felt like we could really improve on some things so we opted to have the feature come out shortly after launch. We’re hoping that our efforts in the Closed Beta to try to get things done quickly and at high quality aren’t lost on our community — but we also never want to sacrifice the quality of the game by putting something live that isn’t up to our standards.
We’re also working on a TON of post-launch features and content. It’s going to be a pretty amazing summer…
In other Overwatch news, Activision said during a recent earnings call that it expects the game to be “Blizzard’s biggest launch since Diablo in 2012″ and that the game will “resonate well” in eSports.
Overwatch‘s beta runs until May 9, with a worldwide release scheduled for May 24 on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
[Source: Battle.net, Gamasutra]
