Released in May of 2016, Overwatch today has only two more maps for its main modes — quick and competitive play — than it did on launch day. Blizzard, however, is hoping to do something about that by quickening the pace at which new maps are released throughout the remainder of the year.
Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan posted on the game’s forums today that Blizzard has three new maps for quick and competitive play in development right now. “While something could always change, all three of those are looking likely for a release this year,” wrote Kaplan.
That’s not all the team is working on, either. In addition to that trio of “standard” maps, Kaplan explained that the studio is also building “three non-standard maps” that won’t go into the quick or competitive play rotation. Getting vaguer still, Kaplan added that the team also has “a few other experiments going on.”
Blizzard has previously released limited-time event maps for Overwatch used exclusively in specific events, just as Junkenstein’s Revenge during Halloween 2016. The experiments, meanwhile, could be anything from new characters to new skins to new playstyles, or something else entirely.
“Hopefully this will satisfy some of what you’re looking for,” Kaplan wrote in response to fan posts questioning whether the established two maps a year pace was sufficient. “We want to play on these maps as badly as you guys do. We’ll work as fast as we can!”
So far this year Blizzard has only released the standard map Oasis and has not formally announced any of the new maps being worked on. Last year saw the release of the standard map Eichenwalde and the non-standard Ecopoint: Antarctica. Meanwhile, the Uprising special event with a modified version of the standard King’s Row map is running right now through May 2.
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