Rumors of an Overwatch 2 delay could have some merit to them as Genji’s voice actor Gaku Space has reportedly not even begun work on the highly anticipated sequel.
Overwatch 2 was revealed in 2019 and ever since, Blizzard has remained completely silent on the matter. No further information has come to light since the initial demonstration but that hasn’t stopped the community from speculating.
Recent reports have suggested that the game has been delayed internally, with a 2021 release no longer in the cards. New job listings also point towards the sequel being much further off than fans were expecting.
Adding further fuel to the fire, the voice behind Genji has chimed in on the speculation. Despite being one of the first six revamped characters on display for Overwatch 2, the voice actor has allegedly “not started recording” new dialogue.
Overwatch 2 will probably not be released this summer. No matter how early it is released, it will be released at the end of the year 2021.
Recently, Overwatch Genji Korean voice actor revealed that he has not started recording Overwatch 2 Genji. pic.twitter.com/DtQYuya4mI
— Naeri X 나에리 (@OverwatchNaeri) January 27, 2021
“Yeah I’m still working on Overwatch, but I haven’t heard anything about Overwatch 2,” the voice actor said in a January 26 interview according to translations from Reddit user ‘Evenstar6132.’
While this initial statement could have just been avoiding the topic, he soon followed up to confirm that he’s had “nothing” to do with Overwatch 2 up until now. “What’s going on Blizzard? I’m not fired am I?”
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A good amount of unused recordings from earlier sessions could be in the bank for the sequel. Though this would mean no fresh dialogue has been recorded for Genji in all manner of new situations.
Voice lines won’t be readily available for Genji interacting with new heroes, playing new modes, or visiting new locations. Let alone the lengthier sections from the upcoming campaign as well.
https://youtu.be/YRKeUZf16jI
Without any of these lines in place, it reaffirms the speculation behind an Overwatch 2 delay. We could still be quite far off from the game’s full release. In fact, Naeri claims the title “will be released at the end of 2021” at the absolute earliest.
Blizzcon 2021 is set to kick off on February 19, with fans hoping to see new updates on Overwatch 2.
We’ll have to wait and see what the developers have in store, but without voice recording finalized across multiple regions, it’s safe to assume a release date won’t be closeby.