Overwatch 2 Stadium has made a big impact since its introduction at the start of Season 16, but, like any other live service game, that is not how the game will look in the future. Now that we have had a couple of weeks to get familiar with the launch heroes and maps, Blizzard has revealed the Overwatch 2 Stadium roadmap over the next few seasons. Everything from new hero additions, maps, and even a new take on payload maps will be showing up.
What does the Overwatch 2 Stadium roadmap look like?
The Overwatch 2 Stadium roadmap is seen in the image above. Of course, you can expect the usual bug fixes and balance updates to the game, but starting at the Season 16 midseason update, the first new hero will be added to the game mode in Freja. After being added into the base game just weeks ago, it looks like Blizzard wants to keep pushing her into the spotlight. As of this writing, Freja’s powers in the new mode are being kept under wraps until closer to her release.
Season 17 Overwatch 2 Stadium roadmap
When Season 17 launches this summer, Sigma, Junkrat, and Zenyatta will be added to the mix. Joining them will be new Stadium variations of Esperanca and Samoa, which are Push and Control maps. Various features will also be added to Stadium at this point including:
- Unranked crossplay
- The ability to share and save builds
- Custom games
- More example builds for those that find making builds difficult
Season 18 Overwatch 2 Stadium roadmap
Season 18, which is happening in late summer, will bring quite the interesting influx of content. First, Winston, Brigitte, and Sojourn are added to Stadium. New maps will also be introduced in the form of a new mode exclusive to Stadium called Payload Race. Route 66 and King’s Row will be represented in this mode. We asked about what Payload Race will be like, and this was response we got from Senior Game Designer Dylan Snyder, who we interviewed recently.
“In Payload Race, teams escort their payloads toward their destination, battling each other along winding pathways and evolving environments. This culminates in an exciting all-out brawl at the finish line, as the leading team attempts to close out their victory, and the trailing team does whatever they can to stop them!”
From this description, it sounds like two payloads will be in play at all times in this mode, and teams have to balance moving their payload while attacking the other team. While we haven’t gotten our hands on it, we did hear from Eric Elliott from the PR team that Payload Race was his personal favorite individual mode in all of Overwatch. “I personally feel like the strategic element is higher than any of the other modes.”
Season 19 and beyond
Beyond Season 18, there isn’t much info we have for the future of Stadium besides an addition of Lijiang Tower to the map pool. A few other features have been listed, but details are scarce in regards to them.
- Draft mode feature
- Consumables
- Item system upgrades
- Quests
Overwatch 2 Stadium has helped give the overall game a bit of a boost recently. In a blog post for the roadmap, Game Director Aaron Keller says that 50% of play time in Overwatch has been dedicated to Stadium so far. Early returns are looking positive, and the game in general looks to be in a good spot. Here’s hoping this streak continues.
