Blizzard agrees Overwatch 2 map pools suck, so it’s scrapping them (for now)

While the changes made to Overwatch’s gameplay structure in Overwatch 2 have generally been met with positive feedback, one new feature has proven to be very controversial: map pools. Since the game launched in late 2022, its nine-week seasons have rotated several maps in and out of both casual and competitive matchmaking. 

Developer Blizzard Entertainment’s goal with map pools has been to promote “seasonal identity” and to make each season feel fresh to play, while also increasing the chance that matches will take place on newer maps. However, players have been near-unanimously critical of the Overwatch 2 map pool system since its introduction, arguing that the game doesn’t have enough stages for an approach like this and that the loss of variety significantly overshadows any feelings of seasonal identity. In a new blog post, Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller has revealed that Blizzard agrees, and is removing map pools in Season 4 (expected to arrive in April 2023).

“Map Pools are going away starting in Season 4. We aimed to provide a bit of freshness each season and concentrate the number of maps that people were playing, however player sentiment around map pools was pretty low, the map roster doesn’t have enough maps where we truly need them, and the impact they had on seasonal identity was fairly low,” Keller wrote. “Additionally, the cadence for maps leaving and returning to the pool didn’t align with the time it took to make changes to the maps. Gibraltar was supposed to return in Season 4 but the playtesting and iteration we were doing for the map started calling that deadline into question.”

Notably, Keller added that in the far future, map pools may come back when Overwatch 2 has a larger selection of maps. However, if they do return, they’ll rotate in and out much more frequently.