An Overwatch 2 producer has blamed Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick for the game's ongoing delays.
In the two tweets below, Overwatch 2 producer Tracy Kennedy outlined how CEO Kotick would "shove" development projects for Overwatch 1 on the Overwatch 2 team, requiring developers to work overtime. Kennedy also says that some of those projects would eventually be cancelled, leading to the loss of "months" of development time for the long-awaited sequel. They also claim that "almost entire teams are turning over and citing [Kotick] as the reason."
Oh wait that's right you hide behind scapegoats because you're a coward, my mistake. The entire world will remember you to be a greedy joke, and there's nothing you can do to change that. We outlasted you and we won. Byeee 👋January 19, 2022
Kennedy's comments come in light of Kotick blaming the delays of Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 for the declining stock of Activision Blizzard. In a new interview with GamesBeat following Microsoft announcing the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Kotick dodged a question about sexual harassment lawsuits lodged against the developer declining stock prices, instead focusing on the delays of Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 as primary reasons.
The new comments from Kennedy allege that Kotick is a significant reason for Overwatch 2's prolonged development process, however. The sequel to the hero shooter was first announced back in late 2019, but has since been delayed multiple times, pushed out of launching in 2021, and the subsequently delayed out of releasing in 2022. Now, a firm release date for Overwatch 2 appears to be out of the question, and we're simply awaiting further updates from Activision Blizzard.
As for Diablo 4, it's had a similarly lengthy development process since first being unveiled. Revealed alongside Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon 2019, the loot-based action game has only popped up a handful of times since its reveal, showing off a slate of new gameplay details. Just like Overwatch 2 though, it's also suffered from multiple delays, with its creative director even departing the project back in 2021.
Head over to our new games 2022 guide for a full list of all the games set to launch later this year.
