Ex-Overwatch 2 PvE dev leaks scrapped story that kills off fan-favorite hero

A developer who left Blizzard back in 2022 has revealed details about what happened in the now-scrapped storyline, including the death of Reinhardt in the game’s story mode.

After a report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier revealed that Overwatch 2’s PvE mode has likely been cancelled with no hope of returning, fans of the series have been left reeling.

However, a former developer who goes by Fox on social media leaked some of the biggest details and revelations from the scrapped story mode. Considering they left Blizzard of their own accord in January 2022, this story was likely set in stone years before the mode’s ultimate cancellation.

In reply to a meme lamenting the state of Overwatch 2, this dev leaked some details about what they worked on in the story mode:

“I worked for like a month on this shot,” they said of the video clip used in the meme. “I would later go on to work on several scenes for the campaign mode in game. None of which will ever see the light of day. You would see Zenyatta standing on his own two feet, and they killed Reinhardt at some point in the story.”

When asked, this developer was willing to talk about other story beats and animated short ideas they had that were ultimately shot down by upper management.

“I pitched 2 shorts, one with a friend where we proposed Lucio’s concert is crashed by null sector bots and he springs into action but unable to save someone. At the end, Zenyatta shows up and they start talking, implying Lucio learns healing powers from Zenyatta.” Fox explained.

“I pitched a Zenyatta short that pits him against Sombra who would hack his machinery and cause an extensional crisis internally, causing him to question his sentience and general purpose and existence, eventually overcome by tranquility powers.”

Fox claimed that both of these pitches were rejected, though that doesn’t mean these story beats won’t be revisited in some other form of Overwatch media in the near future.