Though the upcoming story missions are certainly exciting for fans of Overwatch 2 lore, the set that is coming as part of the Invasion update will unfortunately be the only one released in 2023. With this information coming straight from Executive Producer of Overwatch 2 Jared Neuss, PvE fans can be certain that they are in for a long wait.Overwatch 2’s PvE content has experienced controversy after controversy, with the community having a number of issues with the hero shooter’s approach. First, the cancelation of Hero Mode and skill trees served as a major blow. Then, fans took issue with the announcement that they would have to pay for permanent access to the story missions, with the prices of the Invasion bundles also coming under fire. Now, PvE fans have one more bit of sad news to deal with, as the next batch of PvE missions is not coming until sometime in 2024.As mentioned earlier, this information comes directly from Overwatch 2’s executive producer, as content creator Emongg recently interviewed Jared Neuss about everything coming in the big Invasion update. While Neuss had many interesting things to say about Season 6’s new PvP mode, like how Overwatch 2’s Flashpoint is not coming to competitive right away so that players can get some experience with it, he also touched on PvE. Specifically, Neuss suggested that the next batch of PvE missions will not release in Seasons 7 or 8, with the actual launch window still undetermined.
Considering that Overwatch 2 Seasons span a few months, and that Season 6 does not begin until August 15, the soonest players can expect more missions would be around March 2024 with Season 9 - though this is purely speculation. Neuss shared the reason behind this long wait during the Emongg interview, as Blizzard wants the opportunity to take in community feedback about the three Invasion missions and the bonus London mission. With that feedback, Blizzard can work to make the next missions an improvement, adding more mechanics or adjusting objectives that do not feel as fun as they should.
Based on early opinions from Overwatch 2 content creators like KarQ who got a chance to play the PvE early, this may be a wise idea. KarQ gave the Invasion missions a 6.5 in his early impressions, saying that though the cutscenes and dialogue were strong, the missions are too easy and players spend too much time standing and shooting. This is the kind of feedback that will hopefully be used to make the next chapter of Overwatch 2’s story stronger, and having more opinions come August 15 should be a big help.
With other interesting tidbits about Invasion in the Emongg interview, like PvE originally being tied to Overwatch 2’s battle pass system, it is worth a listen for any fans of the hero shooter. While Blizzard seems committed to the release of more PvE content, fans will be waiting at least 6 months after Invasion to experience it.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
