“The moon haunts you!”

WhenMarvel Rivals was released in December 2024, gamers were frustrated with the most popular hero shooter,Overwatch 2. AfterOverwatch 2’s underwhelming launch in 2023—which lacked several promised features like dynamic weather, weapon inspects, and most importantly, PVE—it was difficult forBlizzard to regain the trust of its player base. According to research byInsider Gaming, 45% of players who droppedOverwatch 2 in December 2024 moved on to play Rivals.

After being a player of the game for several years, I stopped playingOverwatch 2 whenRivals released. That was not a decision I had consciously made, yet it was a common trend amongst gamers.

“WhenMarvel Rivals released, I didn’t anticipate switching toMarvel Rivals,” said Devan “Dravenslade” Wright, Head Coach of the OURivalsteam. “I knew I wanted to try it and compare it to Overwatch 2 at the time, but I had no early intentions of swapping games.” He has been a fan of the franchise since the original Overwatch was released in 2016.

With the newfound competition,Blizzardhad two options: do everything to win back their playerbase and show they’re willing to listen to their community, or let a once-beloved franchise die.

The release ofRivals was the best thing that could have happened toOverwatch 2 at that point in its lifetime. Competition in gaming fosters community because it prompts larger companies to seek out feedback from their fan bases.Overwatch 2 is currently more alive than ever (about 20,558,586 people have played in the past 30 days), with constant updates and collaborations. But is that enough to bring people back?

Overwatch 2 has made several changes since the release ofRivals.

Hero Bans

“The first change I have appreciated Overwatch 2 adding is the hero ban systemin ranked,” Wright said. “This allows players to not only have more control over their competitive environment, but it [also] challenges players of all ranks to embrace the practice of expanding their hero pool and not putting all of their energy into one or two characters.”

Hero Bans were introduced during Season 16 on April 22, 2025. According to developerGavin Winters, on the Director’s Take blog post, the system was designed to “give players strategic agency without punching down at weaker niche picks.”

WhenRivals launched on December 6th, 2024, one notable feature of the game’s competitive play is that once players reach a higher rank, they are given time to ban heroes. The system was well-received and considered quite successful, serving as one of many clear examples showing thatOverwatch 2 was encouraged to try something different.

Perks and Stadium

Perks came out with the launch ofOverwatch 2’s Season 15 on February 18, 2025. When they first came out, I disliked the new perk system. The release itself waspolarizing; many players mentioned that it discouraged hero-swapping (in the hero shooter), created more balance issues, and felt like it had a rushed implementation.

It could be speculated that the team at Blizzard played with the idea of some sort of perk or extra ability because of Rivals’ popular team-up system. It also allowed them to experiment with some of the quirky features they tested for PVE that they eventually scrapped. With that being said, perks now are much more appreciated.

“I think they’re very fun and add some life to the game, although a little hard to balance,” said Lena “doyled” Kang, a strategist player on the OU A Team forRivals.

Season 16 also launched a new game mode called Stadium. This mode was in development from the abandoned Hero Missions project. While I do not think competition withRivals has a direct correlation to the release of this game mode, I believe it ultimately encouraged the team to put some of the perks from this mode into the standard game. I also think they had to coordinate with their marketing team and create an engaging first look in an attempt to draw back some of the player base who had left.

“I think the inclusion of Stadium was one of the best movesOverwatch 2 could’ve made for changing up the game. In addition to having all heroes available to play for new players, the inclusion of perks for standard gameplay switch-up, I’ve actually had a lot of fun!” said Malekai “BeaniestBean” Pola, the manager for OU’sRivals B Team.

Map Voting

Overwatch 2 introduced Map Voting on June 24, 2025. This system lets players in both Quick Play and Competitive pick which map to play by presenting three randomized options before a match starts.

“I have appreciated the map [voting] system in ranked,”Wright said. “It is also an attractive feature for the simple reason that there are other competitive titles that utilize this feature, like Valorant. This provides a more familiar and enjoyable experience for players who play these other competitive games.”

With this being a more recent inclusion, it could still use some fine-tuning. When map voting, you also vote for whether the game mode will be Payload, Push, Flashpoint, etc. With it being truly random, sometimes it will provide three options of the same mode. Optimizing this feature to give a variety of mode options could be very beneficial to the player base.

Loot Boxes

Loot boxes, which were included in the originalOverwatch, returned in Season 15 on February 18, 2025. Many players were upset with how the game began to seem like it cared mostly about monetization.

“Kiriko getting a skin every season is also really annoying, and they tend to neglect frequently played heroes in comp like Rammatra and Baptiste,”said Pola.

In addition to prioritizing new skins and cosmetics for characters that the player base typically buys, Blizzard set the prices very high, according to some players.

“I think the prices for bundles are insane, especially for collab bundles!” said Kang.

Free-to-play game developers constantly face the pressure to ensure their paid content is well-received by players. If not, it can lead to negative feelings and outright disappointment within the game’s community. Bringing back loot boxes offered a unique chance to regain players’ interest through nostalgia.

“It just brought back nostalgia for many players, so it was a good move to gain back their playerbase for a bit,” said Kang.

With nostalgia in hand, it also allowed people to feel like there was something else to work for besides the traditional battle pass. This is also something Rival tends to do, giving the options to progress several different passes or challenges for rewards.

“As well as unlocking heroes for all and bringing back loot boxes for more game incentive, they’ve done a great job, but still have room to be better,” said Pola.

Competition

“I believe competition between titles for a player base is healthy all the way around, said Wright. “Competition allows developers to make changes in an effort to improve their game at a more rapid rate. Competition essentially forces the hand of any given title, which then paves the way for a game to change something good [into] something great.”

Regardless of whetherOverwatch 2 truly had the intentions of rolling all of this new, expansive content in the timeline they did, the unfortunate truth is thatBlizzard lost the trust of its player base. After taking my seven-month break from the game, I have appreciated enjoying the new content and experiencing the game in a new light. I do not feel like I would have had the opportunity to do so if it weren’t forRivals.

“I don’t believe the executive team would’ve made any changes without a true competitor,” said Pola.

Competition in gaming only supports the player. It allows competing titles to work hard to release new, engaging content that otherwise might not have been developed at the speed. I am thankful that the encouragement of wanting to please their player base is so apparent now within the hero-shooting genre of gaming.