Stepping into the role of a recently-departed game director is no simple task, but that’s especially true when those shoes belonged toOverwatchandOverwatch 2director Jeff Kaplan. That’s the challenge ahead for Aaron Keller, who is now leading the team at Blizzard in completingOverwatch 2. Keller doesn’t just have to win over the development team, however. He also has to win over the fans. That’s why Keller’s thoughts on the direction ofOverwatch 2going forward are particularly important to hear.
In an interview with GameSpot, Keller provided an answer fans would certainly be interested in. When asked what his “vision forOverwatch” would be as the series' new director, Keller provided a lengthy response. Unfortunately, that response doesn’t go out of its way to actually answer the question. Instead, Keller says that he’s “well-connected and aligned” with thecurrentOverwatchvisionand that he doesn’t think it’s “right for me to suddenly make a bunch of big changes” to eitherOverwatchorOverwatch 2.
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Keller then goes on to say that he and theOverwatch 2team have already discussed thePvE half ofOverwatch 2quite a bit. As such, he wants to say that Blizzard knows it has to “make the next best version of a team-based shooter” and that the PvP half of the game is also receiving his focus. Further, Keller says that he wants to makeOverwatch 2’s PvP “as compelling as we possibly can.”
In other words, in terms of vision all Keller has to share at the moment is that it’s the sameOverwatchvision as that under Kaplan and that both PvE and PvP are priorities for the team. On one hand, he’s clearly not shaking the boat, which could satesomeOverwatchfans' concerns. On the other hand, it seemed like a good opportunity to offer an inspirational statement to build confidence, but Keller was very safe.
It’s possible that Kelly isn’t able to talk as freely about the future ofOverwatchright now as the moment may seem to demand. The game is still likely quite a way off from a release date,Blizzardhasn’t shared a significant amount about the game yet, and Keller is only just settling into the director position. Perhaps it’s unfair to expect too much from him so quickly.
Regardless,Overwatchfans are understandably left unbalanced by therecent departure of Kaplan. Those fans also very much wantOverwatch 2to deliver on expectations and succeed. It’s just a matter of Keller finding ways to inspire confidence in the project, if not now, then soon.
Overwatch 2is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
