Overwatch 2 Director confirms more “monumental” gameplay changes are coming

Overwatch 2 Director Aaron Keller says players should expect more “monumental” updates like Stadium and the Perks system in future patches.

OW2 has added a plethora of major features in the past couple of seasons with more on the way, and according to Keller, 2026 will be “bonkers” for the hero shooter.

Season 15 added Perks – special hero abilities that are unlocked throughout the match. Season 16 finally introduced Hero Bans and added Stadium, a new game mode with its own balancing and maps.

The devs are planning to make even more upgrades to Stadium in future seasons by adding more characters, maps and even game types such as Payload Race.

Expect to see plenty more features like this in the future, because according to Aaron Keller, the team is more willing to try out bolder ideas than they were in the past.

Overwatch 2 will be “bonkers” in 2026

Speaking with Twitch streamer Emongg, Aaron Keller explained how Stadium isn’t the end of the dev team’s ambition, saying they’re working on even more exciting features.

“I think we’ve really taken to heart some of the feedback from our players and we would like to be doing bigger more monumental things in the game and just not be as conservative or as careful as we were in the past,” he said.

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Keller revealed that modes like Stadium or gameplay features like Perks are just the beginning, and they have a lot more planned.

“These are big things for the game, but it’s not that’s not the end of our ambition or the end of the types of things that we want to do. There’s going to be a lot to look forward to, not just with what’s coming this season or what’s coming to Stadium, but what’s coming in the next few seasons to Overwatch.

“Next year is going to be bonkers,” he added.

Season 17 will be bringing Map Voting to the mix in the base game, with even more Stadium-specific improvements scheduled for Season 19 and beyond.

As for what 2026 will hold, new reports have indicated that a mobile, MOBA version of Overwatch is in development.

Additionally, BlizzCon, Blizzard’s massive event where new games and features are announced, is set to return next year, so it’s possible that whatever “monumental” addition the developers are working on will be revealed there.