Although it promised that Overwatch and Overwatch 2 would peacefully coexist, we recently learned that there could be only one. We got a date for when Overwatch prime goes offline October 2nd.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Overwatch commercial lead Jon Spector explained that on October 2nd, Overwatch prime would die. So for roughly 24 hours, the game will be offline to make way for Crystal Overwatch — err— Overwatch 2 on October 4th.
“So that means, as a practical point, that October 2nd is the last day to go in and play Overwatch 1,” Spector told Eurogamer.
The arrival of Overwatch 2 brings with it significant and permanent changes to the game.
Overwatch is placed sixty years into a fictionalized Earth’s future, thirty years after explaining what is known as the “Omnic Crisis.” Before the Omnic Crisis, humanity had been in a golden era of wealth and technology evolution.
Then, humans devised robots with artificial intelligence called “Omnics,” which were used to achieve economic equality and started to be treated as people in their own right. The Omnic Crisis was prompted when globally automated “omnium” facilities that created them began constructing a series of lethal, vicious robots that assailed humankind.
Initially, respective nations responded with different programs: the United States designed its Soldier Enhancement Program to have elite fighters, for instance, while Germany assembled the knight-like Crusaders. However, when these measures failed to ward off the Omnics, the United Nations fast formed Overwatch, a global task force combining these personal programs to combat this threat and resuscitate order.
Two veteran soldiers from the Soldier Enhancement Program were in charge of Overwatch: Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison. Though Overwatch successfully quelled the robotic uprising and brought many talented individuals to the forefront, a rift developed between Reyes and Morrison due to Reyes being the group’s official leader despite everyone regarding the more widespread Morrison as their true commander.
Eventually, Morrison was driven to be the leader of Overwatch. At the same time, Reyes was given charge of Blackwatch, Overwatch’s covert operations division, fighting terrorist organizations like Talon.
It was a group that seemed to be endeavoring to initiate a second Omnic Crisis, and Null Sector, a bunch of Omnics, rebelled against the society that persecuted Omnics following the first Crisis. Overwatch maintained peace worldwide for many decades in what arrived to be named the “Overwatch Generation” as the team earned more members, but the split between Morrison and Reyes amplified.
Blackwatch was rerouted to arrest an infamous mobster with links to Talon. After infiltrating the compound, Reyes decided to execute the mobster rather than let him purchase his way out of prison. This action compelled Blackwatch and its less heroic deeds to be exposed to the public.
Several allegations of misconduct and failures were leveled at Overwatch, leading to a public uproar against the alliance and in-fighting between its members, provoking the UN to analyze the situation.
During this, an explosion shattered Overwatch’s headquarters in Switzerland, purportedly exterminating Morrison and Reyes, among others. The UN passed the Petras Act, which dismantled Overwatch and forbade any Overwatch-type activity.