As the latest seasonal event for Overwatch (Uprising, in case you’ve been living under a huge rock that also has really really big rocks on it) nears its end and we try and smash out those last games of mystery heroes we don’t wanna do in return for 3 more chances to get a cool new event player icon, the developers have been super vocal about the state of Overwatch and the (near) future. From bug fixes to skins, from subtitling to, well, skins, Jeff ‘Sombra is meta’ Kaplan and his team of swashbucklers have been really good at keeping the community (or at least the loud ones on the forums) up to date on the happenings behind the scenes, here are the highlights:

(Subtle) Subtitle Support

With the Uprising event’s new game mode coming complete with full subtitles for the characters, many people were quick to thank and congratulate Jeff (as if he coded them all individually) and also to point out that the work’s not done yet for subtitling! – Jeff said that the architecture to subtitle the game is now in place and that the team is working on it, a huge win for deaf people! (A colossal loss for those who have friends that like to listen to music when they play, though.)

New Maps!

Following comments about the lack of new maps (particularly in regards to Ecopoint: Antarctica as the only 1v1/3v3 map) – Jeff has announced SIX new maps are in development!

The first three, he says are ‘standard’ maps that will be added to the quick play/competitive rotation, they’re past initial playtesting and will likely see a release this year! :O

The second three are ‘non-standard’ (Ecopoint: Antarctica etc) maps that will NOT be added to the comp/QP rotation, no ETA on those, but they are in development.

If Overwatch is going to be around for a long time like Blizzard IPs and they keep on creating new maps at this rate, I wonder how long it might be before we see maps removed? (Oasis first plz)

Other Highlights:

The HotS Nexus 2.0 Hanamura video with D.Va and Genji, is not canon. You can watch the epic battle right here!

According to Jeff ‘pls play out MOBA plsssssss’ Kaplan, console players can still get the nexus challenge unlockables by playing HotS on PC, but he added that soon they’ll be available in the ‘regular’ loot boxes to be obtained normally at a later date, but would should still check out the Nexus Challenge, because HotS is an ‘amazing game’.

Jeffhardt once charged down an enemy Pharah while she was raining justice from above directly in front of him