12 January 2026

Overwatch 2 is Cooking Up Something Big for 2026

By newsgame

Overwatch 2 recently confirmed its editorial calendar was “booked for the start of the year,” meaning players can expect some major announcements before spring arrives. A new Weekly Recall topic poll, teasers across development panels, and a slew of empty lore video slots within Overwatch 2 itself all hint towards something big coming to Future Earth very soon.

It is no exaggeration to say that 2025 might have been Overwatch 2’s best year yet. After a rocky start due to controversies at Blizzard and downscaling of PvE promises within the sequel, Overwatch 2 hit a home run last year with the release of popular game-changing features like Perks, Stadium, Map Voting, and Hero Bans.

It’s Time to Admit that Overwatch 2 is Superior to the First Game, and is a Worthy Sequel

As a longtime Overwatch player, I can finally admit that Overwatch 2 has surpassed the original game over 4 years after its launch.

Overwatch 2 Blog Calendar ‘Booked’ Through Spring

The Overwatch 2 mid-Season 20 update officially kicked off the new year, but it is clear the hero shooter has only just getting started in 2026. A new Weekly Recall went live on January 9 that includes a poll for topics gamers would like to see discussed in future blog posts. It is unclear exactly when the poll will close, so fans should be sure to vote on which of the following topics they would want to see explored by Overwatch 2 this year:

Hero data (Bans, Picks, Wins, Losses, favorite ice cream flavors)
Map voting data
Hero design processes (like the Vendetta deep dive)
Art design processes (Mythic creation, VFX, emotes, etc.)
Map design processes
Narrative processes
Systems design/engineering processes (like the matchmaking blog)
Other design processes (like UI/UX, Sound, or data analysis)
Competitive systems deep dives (Leaderboards, rank resets, grouping rules)
Lore-based blogs (like recaps for those new to Overwatch)
Esports and tournament insights (Overwatch World Cup prep, pro player spotlights)
Community spotlight series (like fanart showcases)
Fun/seasonal thematic blogs (holiday mode variants, goofy dev anecdotes)
Other

However, this blog post contained a small teaser that might be even more interesting than this poll. Near the end, Overwatch 2 revealed that the topics in this poll likely wouldn’t appear in Weekly Recall blog posts until the spring, saying “our editorial calendar is booked for the start of the year (cue the eyes emojis).” While this doesn’t reveal too much about what this might entail, it at least confirms there is a packed schedule of announcements, and they are coming very soon.

What Does Overwatch 2 Have Planned For 2026?

overwatch 2 midseason 20 update mythic magma titan doomfist red

So far, much of what is coming to Overwatch 2 in 2026 is shrouded in mystery, but a few things have been confirmed already. At least two maps are coming to Core Overwatch 2 in the form of Atlantic Arcology and Tokyo, but more may arrive as well. Additionally, several older maps are due to get reworks, starting with the Antarctic Peninsula in Season 22. Though unconfirmed, players can assume they will also get a new playable hero in Season 22, 24, and 26, along with additional characters added to Stadium throughout the year.

Our editorial calendar is booked for the start of the year (cue the eyes emojis).

Beyond that, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller has dropped some big hints over various appearances recently. For example, during a developer livestream in December, Keller explained that, despite its success, he felt as if the team “could have done more” with Perks, one of the biggest game-changers from last year, but did not out of fear they might have been controversial. “But for 2026,” Keller said, “I don’t think there’s any way that we’re going to look back and say ‘those could have been bigger.’” While he couldn’t say more at the time, this bold statement has set a high bar for Overwatch 2 this year.

Additionally, it is clear that Overwatch 2 has renewed its focus on the lore of the game as well. The introduction of the new in-game Story feature in the mid-Season 19 update, which includes all recent cinematics, comics, and other lore videos, seems to imply the intention to make some major moves with the story, and Overwatch 2 Season 20’s Vendetta is poised to be at the center of it all. Five new blank entries were added to the Story feature in the mid-Season 20 update, which could easily be related to some of these big plans Keller has teased as well.

Either way, fans won’t have to wait too long to find out. Overwatch 2 Season 21 starts February 10, meaning players will almost certainly learn some major information over the next month before then – maybe even in the form of a new Overwatch 2 Spotlight broadcast like it did last year around the same time. Fans will have to keep their eyes peeled for more details over the next few weeks.