Blizzard Is Letting Players Go Back In Time With Overwatch: Classic, A New LTM That Brings Back The Original Overwatch As It Was In 2016

Overwatch 2 is now the latest live service title to get a mode that sends the gameplay back to how it was when players were actually having fun. That’s not meant to be as snide as it sounds, but it’s definitely a pattern that’s appearing among big live service titles.

Blizzard announced a new game mode that’ll be live tomorrow, November 12 called Overwatch: Classic, which brings the gameplay of Overwatch back to how things were when the game launched. That means 6v6 matches, the original set of heroes, abilities, and maps that all made players fall in love with Overwatch when it released back in 2016.

But that’s not the only piece of the past that players get to experience. Overwatch: Classic will have its own designated events, where the gameplay will be turned back to various eras of Overwatch in its now close to a decade-long history.

Overwatch 1.0 is just what’s kicking things off, as a blog post on Blizzard’s website describes that a different event will feature “the fast paced and frantic gameplay of the 2017 Moth Meta.”

Overwatch: Classic will be available to Overwatch 2 players beginning tomorrow and be live until December 2, 2024. It’ll be interesting to see how many different ‘eras’ of Overwatch and its meta Blizzard will showcase in that time.

Any fan who might actually re-download Overwatch 2 just for this mode after being disillusioned with the current state of the game should know though – this isn’t ‘the start of something new,’ to use HSM terms.

Blizzard makes it clear in an FAQ that this is not a sly way for Blizzard to test bringing back 6v6 gameplay permanently. “Nope!,” begins an answer to the exact question, “Is it a way to test bringing back 6v6 permanently in Overwatch 2.”

“We are running separate 6v6 test modes in future seasons to gather feedback and gauge player interest on that format.”

Also, if you’re nostalgic for more than just a meta that’s come and gone, Overwatch Classic doesn’t seem like it has more to offer. The FAQ also clarifies that all the maps included in this LTM will be the same as they were on launch, but not in their look.

The LTM also doesn’t bring back the original UI, Competitive Mode, or loot boxes. Oh, and you won’t be able to take your heroes skins back in time either, since you’ll only be able to equip each heroes original default skin, as part of the aesthetics of bringing things back to 1.0 Overwatch.

Call Of Duty, Fortnite, Apex Legends and now Overwatch are all big live service titles that have been around for so long that they’ve brought things back to how it used to be.

Call Of Duty is bringing back the original Warzone map that players fell in love with – which Fortnite already did, and will likely do again. Apex Legends just days ago released a limited-time mode that does exactly what Overwatch: Classic does, and brings the game back to its original map, legends and meta.

These throwbacks are definitely fun for players who’ve been around long enough to have nostalgia for a live service game in its launch state, but it invites a bigger question about how live service games treat their own history.

Can live service games find a balance between keeping things new and ‘old’ at the same time? Or is it against their nature for any of these throwbacks to become permanent installments?

Fans might immediately call for modes like this to become permanent, but will these modes actually be the things that take over a game’s community? Sure, you as an individual might only play a permanent version of Overwatch Classic, but can the same be said for someone who picked the game up in 2022?

What they fell in love with was not the Overwatch of old, so why should this older version take over what they already like? It’s all quite complicated, and it’s doubtful there exists a solution that’ll please everyone involved.

Unless that solution is to just forget about all that, and enjoy the Overwatch that took over the world back in 2016. That might be the solution to unite us all.

Source – [Blizzard Entertainment]

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