- Primary Subject: Overwatch (2026 Reboot / Season 1: The Reign of Talon)
- Key Update: Blizzard is officially dropping the "2" from the title and kicking off a massive 10th-anniversary overhaul on February 10
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: February 4, 2026
- Quick Answer: Overwatch returns to its roots on Feb 10 with "The Reign of Talon," adding five launch heroes (including Jetpack Cat)
As a rehabilitated former Overwatch player, the recent Overwatch 2026 Spotlight stream has me thinking of dabbling in Blizzard's hero shooter once more. And that's a good thing.
First off, some quick context in case you're out of the loop. The gist of it is that the Spotlight video gave a comprehensive look at what players can expect in the coming year, which marks the franchise's 10th anniversary. More concretely, showcasing the slew of content that awaits players when Season 1, The Reign of Talon, kicks off on February 10: five new heroes (with that number increasing to 10 for the rest of 2026), more consistent loredrops with a year-long story expanding Overwatch's rich world, a revamped UI/UX, and even a massive lootbox refresh that adds all regular shop skins from the past six seasons (not including Mythics or collab skins).
The entire roster of changes is huge and much more expansive than what I just mentioned, which showcases the level of ambition shown by the development team that really reignited a fire in the community, even in those lapsed players like me.
Overwatch's recent years have been marred by overpromising and underdelivering. The controversies behind the scenes have been long documented, affecting content cadence in-game and breaking the community's trust in Blizzard.
The moment I realized I was falling out of love with the game I spent over 1.5k hours on, happened in 2020. By that point, Overwatch 2 had already been announced. The mixed reaction from fans ranged from puzzling to overwhelmingly positive, as the original Overwatch felt incredibly stale following years of the infamous GOATs meta (three tanks and three supports) dominating pro play and even high ELO, forcing the team to implement a strict 2-2-2 role queue. Echo dropped early in the year and then... nothing.
Radio silence. Barely any new updates regarding the ambitious Overwatch 2 and its story mode, which was the main selling point, or to be more blunt, the entire point of its existence. Over two years passed, and what was eventually put in the hands of fans, repackaged as a sequel, was a husk of everything that was promised. Even beloved features were removed: I never wanted the game to go from six to five players per team. Instead of reworking and fixing modes like 2CP, they completely removed them, adding brand-new ones that didn't stick the landing like Push.
The move to a free-to-play format also came with a massive caveat: the main way to earn cosmetics was by paying an absurd amount of money, whereas before, the lootbox system (albeit with its own issues) allowed players to get their hands on every available cosmetic, whether they were limited-time event skins or general Epic or Legendary ones. One of the biggest incentives to grind, gone.
Around 2023, my time spent on Overwatch had dwindled until eventually, without even giving it a second thought, I stopped playing. I was invested in the game and the community for years, dedicating thousands of hours, earning 95% of the cosmetics. Even interviewing pro players during the Overwatch League. All that passion and enthusiasm vanished amid terrible quality-of-life decisions and a new monetization system that somehow made RNG lootboxes in a full-priced game less predatory.
While I don't think the revamped Overwatch (they finally decided to drop the '2' from the name) will make me as invested as I originally was over a decade ago, it's great to see that the IP is shaking up years of disappointment and slowly delivering on its promise of becoming an ever-evolving live-service title that has plenty of content to offers players, all wrapped up with a nice year-long storytelling that finally taps into one of the best aspects of the hero shooter: its characters and lore.
And that's it. For more stick with us at Gfinityesports: your go-to source for all things Overwatch.