Overwatch 2 Director’s Take – Past, Present, and Future of Stadium

Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller is back with a new blog post on the official Blizzard site. In it, the team addresses the past, present, and future of Stadium, the newest game mode introduced with Season 16.

In case you didn’t try it for yourself yet, Stadium is a new permanent game mode! In this best-of-7, round-based mode, you’ll earn Stadium Cash to unlock powerful, game-changing abilities. You can even choose between first-person and third-person perspective to see your powers in action, and unlock rewards as you rise through the ranks.

Stadium emerged as an idea before Overwatch 2 launched. Early versions looked a little different from the mode you’re playing today. Initially, it was focused on providing as much variety as possible and set up as an eight-team tournament. Each round, players picked from random upgrades to use in combat phases of Team Deathmatch or versus AI, losing health if they lost the round.

This idea shifted to what is present in the game today, still offering variety, but it no longer being the highest priority. The team wants players to feel balanced and competitive, while making epic builds through strategic choices based on the performance and Hero compositions of everyone in the match.

“If you like playing Stadium, you’ll be happy to know that we have a lot of big plans for it. There will be seasonal updates to Stadium which will include the release of new Heroes, maps, game modes, systems and features, as well as the usual care we put into other modes of Overwatch. What’s coming to Stadium over the next two seasons? A lot!”

Players are in for new heroes, game modes, systems, and more. Check out the roadmap below to find out more.