Summary
- Overwatch 2 developers didn't receive profit share bonuses for the second half of 2023, raising concerns about the game's future health.
- Blizzard's profit-sharing bonuses were once based on the company's overall success, but a new policy rewards franchises individually, impacting Overwatch 2's devs.
Overwatch 2 developers reportedly received no profit share bonuses from the semi-annual Blizzard payout in March, which covers the second half of 2023. This fact paints a grim picture of Overwatch 2, and has led many to worry about the long-term health of the game.
Every year, Blizzard developers get a bonus based on the success of their games – one in August for the first half of the year, and again in March for the second half of the previous one. These bonuses used to be based on the entire company’s success, but a new policy implemented by former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick in 2023 made it so that each franchise would be rewarded for its individual success.
Overwatch 2's Latest Developer Update is Good News, But There's a Problem
Overwatch 2's recent Developer Update painted a good picture of the title's future, but the absence of news for a certain feature remains a problem.
Unfortunately, this change has allegedly caused Overwatch 2’s team to take a big financial hit. According to Bloomberg, the faltering success of Overwatch 2 led its developers to reach none of its bonus targets for the profit share from the second half of 2023. A Blizzard game failing to get any profit share bonuses at all is a rare thing, which suggests Overwatch 2 is struggling to find success.
What are Blizzard Profit Sharing Bonuses?
- In August and March, Blizzard employees get a bonus based on the profits made by the company during the half-year that ended three months prior to the payout.
- These payouts are justifications for Blizzard’s below-average developer salaries.
- The bonus used to be based on the whole company’s success, but Activision changed the policy to be based on franchise last year.
- This led Overwatch 2 developers to get 0% profit shares from the second half of 2023.
The August 2023 payment for the first half of the year was nothing to brag about either. Last year, the team for Overwatch 2 was told the game’s poor performance during the first half of the year meant they shouldn’t have made any profit share bonuses, but that the company would compensate them to cover for the shortfall. Unfortunately, it seems Blizzard made no such compensation this time, meaning the devs have to rely purely on their lower-than-average salaries instead.
According to Bloomberg’s anonymous sources, the developers were also told Overwatch 2 has no plans to release more PvE content in light of the poor performance of the three Story Missions released during Season 6. While Blizzard has yet to confirm anything directly, between laying off most of the PvE team, and moving the Missions button to the side of the Overwatch 2 menu, it is not hard to believe the report. Overwatch 2 seems to be in a precarious place, but hopefully, the new changes revealed from Season 10 will let its developers score a bigger profit share bonus from this year.
Overwatch 2
- Released
- August 10, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.
