Overwatch devs say hero bans aren’t “off the table” for OW2

With Overwatch 2 launching on October 4, the developers have been hard at work balancing the game, but aren’t ready to rule out hero bans if the sequel becomes an issue.

Balance in Overwatch has been quite the touchy subject since it was first released. While players can find success with any hero in ranked, non-meta picks become increasingly difficult as one moves up the ladder or plays in an organized team-based setting.

In the highest levels of play in the Overwatch League, a since-scrapped hero pool feature was implemented to ban certain heroes being played the most, while never giving players themselves the ability to ban a hero from being picked.

During an interview with Dexerto, Lead Hero Designer Geoff Goodman was asked about the possibility of hero bans being implemented at some point in the future.

Overwatch 2 devs open to hero ban feature

“I would say hero bans are unlikely at this point, but I wouldn’t say they’re off the table,” Goodman explained. “It does come up occasionally, so I don’t think we’d ever say it’s something we’d definitely not do.”

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One of the main problems, according to Goodman, is how many things there are to consider when implementing hero bans. An example Goodman gave was at the high competitive level, certain players who play only a few heroes may be targeted for their mains.

“There are issues. We’ve talked about how we would resolve them and how we would design it to make it work,” he added, referencing the poorly-received hero pools feature, which he admitted had its own problems. “It’s something we continue to talk about.”

Hero bans are also something that Game Director Aaron Keller doesn’t want to come to fruition. Speaking with GameSpot, the developer stated he was against pulling characters away from players who associate different heroes with themselves.

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“I think a lot of times when people pick up the game, they’ll find a hero that they like to play, and it’s the thing that helps them engage with the game. And so I think moving into a system like that right now isn’t in our plans, and I’m hoping that we don’t ever have to go there,” he explained.

Of course, if balance ever becomes very difficult with Overwatch 2, it seems like bans could actually end up happening. Just don’t expect to see them when the game launches.