Recent Overwatch 2 Update Paints the Wrong Picture of Season 17

Set to release on June 24, Overwatch 2 recently unveiled the details surrounding Season 17. Titled “Powered Up!” and subsequently introducing an arcade game theme alongside a surplus of 8-bit skins, there’s a great deal of content worth getting excited over. Unfortunately, the Overwatch 2 Season 17 trailer may be unintentionally misleading the community.

As the DokiWatch-themed Season 16 draws to a close, Blizzard’s hero-shooter is turning the page to what could be another content-packed season. However, with the trailer sitting at a mere minute and thirty seconds long and containing some potentially hard-to-follow visuals in rapid succession, Overwatch 2 may be underselling its next update. After all, if the community refers to the official PlayOverwatch social media accounts, they’ll find content breakdowns of several highly anticipated features that were seemingly never mentioned or barely hinted at during the Season 17 trailer.

Overwatch 2 on Nintendo Switch 2 is a Clear Step Forward, But One Update Would Be a Huge Leap

Despite performance issues being lower for Overwatch 2 on the Nintendo Switch 2, it’s clear that there is still work to be done by Blizzard.

Overwatch 2 Season 17 Is Much More Than Meets the Eye

overwatch 2 season 17 powered up mythic skins aatlis map stadium events

Overwatch 2 Season 17 Trailer Overview

Historically, Overwatch 2’s new season trailers run at least three minutes long, with seasons 14 and 15 clocking in at around three and nearly four minutes, respectively. In stark contrast, the most recent preview for Overwatch 2 has a runtime of less than half that of the DokiWatch and Stadium initiation trailer. If Season 17 were to be a “filler” season, the shorter trailer would make sense, but with so much on the roadmap, it feels oddly understated.

Interestingly, the trailer spends twenty seconds on arcade visuals before sharing the name of the season. Then, it briefly flashes what may be visual novel gameplay of Juno and Junkrat in an academy, which resembles 2023’s Loverwatch dating simulator, before transitioning into Stadium gameplay. However, it doesn’t label it as such. This footage highlights the arrival of Sigma, Junkrat, and Zenyatta in the mode, set on Esperanca, and a prominent scoreboard at the center of the map.

While a nod to the forthcoming Overwatch 2 Stadium update is appreciated, failing to mention the other elements coming to the game mode, such as the Samoa map, example builds, new All-Star rewards, and Stadium Drives, seems like a missed opportunity. It may also be unclear to some players that this was a teaser for Stadium in particular, as the most significant indication is the scoreboard, which appears in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.

Unranked Stadium, including Unranked crossplay, is now slated for release in Season 18, rather than Season 17.

Later, somewhat disorientingly, the trailer shows off gameplay featuring the Horang Mythic D.Va skin before abruptly transitioning to highlight the 8-bit battle pass skins for Reinhardt, Genji, Sombra, Orisa, and Zenyatta. The rest of the trailer showcases additional battle pass and Shop skins, many of which are intriguing but thematically disconnected. This is followed by a gameplay segment focused on Widowmaker, which feels both lengthy and choppy, and concludes with a glimpse of the Steel Death Mythic Reaper weapon skin.

Despite What the Trailer Conveys, Overwatch 2’s Next Season is Stacked

Although there is an argument to be made that fans can uncover news about several features in the game by examining the trailer frame by frame, the trailer should ideally convey these highlights without requiring such scrutiny. For instance, while it’s exciting that Overwatch quietly announced a G.I. Joe crossover, not many may even be aware it’s happening, as any imagery of it in the trailer is so brief.

Moreover, for the first time, both the Mythic Skin and Mythic Weapon Skin will be available for purchase at the start of the season. Similarly, while the support hero, previously code-named Aqua and now confirmed as Wuyang, is set to debut in a hero trial likely near the end of the season, the trailer offered no teaser. This differs from previous seasons, which hinted at upcoming heroes, such as Hazard.

Furthermore, although promotional materials have indicated that Overwatch 2‘s new Map Voting system will be available in Quick Play and Competitive, there was no mention of this feature either. Even though many aspects from the Overwatch Spotlight are coming to fruition, such as the Moroccan Flashpoint map Aatlis, they are flying largely under the radar in the lead-up to Season 17. Ultimately, several key points of Powered Up were overlooked or not explored in depth, many of which could have been included with better pacing or an extended trailer.