Overwatch and Overwatch 2 clients will eventually merge to avoid fragmenting the player base

At some point in the future, Overwatch and Overwatch 2 clients will merge.

This is according to Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan, who told Kotaku the team doesn't wish to fragment the player base, which tends to happen when servers are shut down.

"There will be a point where the clients merge,” he said. “We think this is important, especially as a competitive experience. The whole idea is to avoid fragmenting the player base and giving anybody a competitive advantage.

"If we’re playing in the same competitive pool, you’d better not have a better framerate just because you’re on a different version of the engine."

This is part of the team's mantra of no player left behind, as Kaplan stated during BlizzCon. The team is making sure this remains the case by making Overwatch 2’s multiplayer maps, heroes and modes available in the original game and players can expect simultaneous updates.

In the interview, Kaplan was quick to state that Overwatch will receive meaningful updates to the game before Overwatch 2's release, which means the team isn't shifting all of its focus off the live game.

Overwatch 2 is currently without a release date.