Overwatch lead says ‘six maps’ being worked on, three will probably be released this year

All for free

In addition to a few vague ‘experiments’ that he eluded to in a forum post, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan notes that there are “six maps” in development, and that three of them will likely hit by the end of this year. Kaplan says that the upcoming maps are of the “standard” variety, meaning that they’ll slot into quickmatch and competitive play. The other three are said to be non-standard, and will be more experimental.

While I hop on and off of Overwatch frequently (especially based on the events), it’s been host to a ton of free content since its launch last year (it hasn’t even had an anniversary yet, which is weird to say) that keeps dragging me back in. Based on rumors we’re likely to see another announcement around E3, and we know that Blizzard is still working on seasonal events and characters in addition to maps — all of which will be free.

Even though some folks are still miffed at the microtransaction-fueled loot boxes in a premium game, I’m more than happy with the state of the game given how easy it is to find matches and all of the free content we’ve gotten.

Jeff Kaplan [Blizzard]