Why Tracer and Hanzo Won't Be in Overwatch 2 Stadium at Launch

Blizzard explains how it picked the first heroes for Overwatch 2's Stadium mode and why some characters aren’t a good fit yet.

Overwatch 2 is just days away from launching its new Stadium mode. Aiming to become a new main pillar for the hero shooter alongside its competitive and fast-paced game mode, its gameplay innovations and ability redesigns look fantastic, but it comes at the cost of a limited hero pool. Now, Blizzard has lifted the veil on how it decided on Stadium's list of launch heroes, and why some characters like Tracer, Widowmaker and Hanzo were left out at least for now.

The Overwatch 2 Stadium mode is the biggest change to the FPS game in a long time. A new, permanent core experience that lets players jump into best-of-seven series with shorter denser matches, post-round buy phases where items and new abilities can be equipped and the option to play in third-person. It's an exciting offer, but when Stadium launches next week it will only have 17 heroes which is less than half of the full roster. Popular characters like Mercy, D.Va, and Genji will be available but many others won't be.

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A recent roundtable with Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller senior game designer Dylan Snyder and lead level designer Ryan Smith by Gamefusionusa shed some light on how Blizzard selected the initial 17.

The reason we chose the heroes we wanted in Stadium was because of what we thought we could do with their kits Keller explains. With the first heroes we picked, we immediately had ideas about how to create a really unique or interesting and transformative build. We also worked with a group of heroes that we think would be a little easier for players to connect with. We specifically didn't pick characters with a lot of mobility potential, because their mobility potential would likely increase [when brought into Stadium].

Speaking specifically about Overwatch's poster girl Tracer, who was not featured in Stadium at launch he said that the Blizzard team likes her as a character but the mode needs to launch in as sensible a format as possible before we start bringing in heroes that have really crazy mobility. Keller assures that Tracer will eventually be added to the hero pool, and when she does she will wreck people.

Later, Snyder adds that there are other factors besides just speed that make some heroes very difficult to balance for Stadium, making them a major factor in the mode's early builds. become unnatural choices for lineups. Due to its more dense and frenetic nature, Stadium will feel more melee-focused which could make it difficult to balance and feature ranged, hitscan or burst damage heroes like Widowmaker and Hanzo. He said We have Ashe in the starting hero pool and that's Awesome. We found some really cool ways to make sure that Ashe and even Cassidy had a lot of variety and options but it was difficult and it won't get any less difficult as we bring those characters in.

Smith also points out that some mechanics and abilities, like Widowmaker's charged sniper shot, are very hard to transplant and communicate into Stadium's third-person perspective.

It seems like Blizzard is really willing to innovate and find ways to make these more problematic characters fit into the Stadium context, but the timing just is not right for some of these more complex or high-mobility heroes. Keller has promised that more heroes, maps, and game modes will be added every season so the initial team of 17 will keep growing. The Overwatch 2 Stadium mode will launch at the start of Season 16 on Tuesday, April 22.