The Overwatch 2 Season 4 Trailer recently dropped and unloaded months' worth of content coming to the popular hero-shooter. Along with the new hero, Lifeweaver, Season 4 will be bringing another battle pass, hero skins, and more. The trailer made sure to highlight all the upcoming events, which included a new Starwatch Event, Celebrate Pride event, and more. Although there's a lot of new content to look forward to, there's one particular event that fails to make an appearance once more in Overwatch 2: the Overwatch Archives event.
Overwatch Archives was a seasonal event that was regularly held during April and May. The event focused primarily on the story and history of Overwatch, as it came with a cooperative PvE mode that introduced three playable missions. Archives was an amusing and unique event that didn't limit itself to a PvP setting like most other seasonal events, and it also brought interesting skins, most of which were related to Overwatch lore such as the Overwatch uniforms and Talon outfits. Although the event had fallen off in terms of quality and felt like less of a priority for Blizzard's developers in the original game's later years, it is still surprising that the event doesn't feature in the Season 4 Trailer at all.
Potential Reasons Why Overwatch Archives Isn't Coming to Season 4
Intriguingly, this is not the first time Archives didn't occur. In 2022, Overwatch cancelled three seasonal events: Archives, Summer Games, and the Anniversary event, and replaced the three events with the Anniversary Remix event, which offered all the skins from the previous events as well as previous events' limited-time modes, including Archives PvE missions. This was done so that the developer could prioritize the development of Overwatch 2 rather than developing new content for Overwatch 1. Players might have expected Archives to return this year, but it seems like there's a chance that it won't come, though there might be a good reason why.
It can be assumed that Archives won't return this year because the developer is allocating its resources into developing Overwatch 2's PvE story mode, which has yet to release despite being announced many years ago. It would make sense for Blizzard to avoid releasing a new Archives PvE event that's similar to Uprising, Retribution, and Storm Rising, as any new PvE gamemodes related to Overwatch's story should be added to Overwatch 2's campaign mode instead. It would be more practical than making a limited-time PvE mode that will only stick around for about three weeks.
Will Archives Return or Be Replaced?
Archives is a lore-based event that gives players more knowledge and stories about the Overwatch world, so the event being replaced with a story mode would be understandable. Still, there are reasons that the event shouldn't be completely erased or replaced. Seasonal events on the PvP side of Overwatch 2 are not only made with limited-time modes in mind, as they also present new skins, emotes, and other cosmetics for players to collect and show off. Events like Winter Wonderland and Lunar New Year give players festive and amazing-looking skins along with various limited-time gamemodes, and Archives can still follow the same event structure with new lore-based Overwatch skins and cosmetics. PvE content that is very different from the campaign's or a lore-focused PvP mode could help Archives stand out, too.
One thing to bear in mind is that not every Overwatch 2 player will be playing the Overwatch 2 PvE mode, so the PvP players shouldn't feel entirely left out of the lore-based events and cosmetics. For Overwatch 2 PvP players, Archives could serve as a stepping stone that convinces them to play the PvE story mode, which has yet to be given a release date or price tag. Assuming Blizzard will reintroduce the event next year, or that it moves it to another point in 2023, Archives would need to be special enough to justify its position as a seasonal event. If it does not feel as exciting as it did in its first few years, replaced with a new seasonal Overwatch 2 event would be the right move. Regardless, it is worth noting that the event is not releasing in its usual window, as that might just mean Archives has been quietly retired.
Overwatch 2 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.