Blizzard Entertainment has unveiled its Overwatch 2 Stadium roadmap for 2025, providing exciting details about the heroes and features planned for Season 17, Season 18, Season 19, and beyond. In a comprehensive Director's Take blog post, game director Aaron Keller shared insights into the past, present, and future of this new mode, which has been available for just over a week. The announcement included a surprising summer roadmap, reflecting on the mode's origins and its impressive performance to date.
Stadium Gets 7 New Heroes This Summer -------------------------------------The Stadium mode will continue to evolve with the addition of new Damage hero Freja in a mid-season patch for Season 16. However, it's Season 17 in June that promises a significant expansion. Heroes like Junkrat, Sigma, and Zenyatta will join the roster, accompanied by the new Esperança Push map and Samoa Control map. Blizzard aims to enhance the Stadium experience by introducing Unranked Crossplay, new all-star rewards, custom games, additional example builds, and the ability to save and share builds. It's uncertain whether all these additions will be available at the start of Season 17 or rolled out throughout the season.
Season 18 will introduce Winston, Sojourn, and Brigitte to the playable characters, along with the Route 66 and London maps. A new Payload Race game mode, complete with two new maps, a Stadium trials feature, and the option to Endorse teammates will also be added. Looking further ahead, Season 19 and beyond will feature a new China map and introduce a Draft Mode, consumables, and item system tweaks.
Overwatch 2 Stadium summer 2025 roadmap. Image courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.
How has Stadium Performed so Far?
The Overwatch 2 team has shared impressive Stadium statistics, showing it has quickly become the most played mode in the game. During its launch week, Stadium saw 2.3 million matches played over 7.8 million hours, surpassing both Quick Play and Competitive modes. This performance is more than double that of Overwatch Classic's launch week. Interesting data points include Lucio being the hero with the highest win rate yet the lowest pick rate, and players spending a staggering 900 billion Stadium Cash to customize 206 million items for their builds.
Aaron Keller's Director's Take also clarified that Stadium was in development before Overwatch 2 launched, dispelling rumors that it was created to compete with Marvel Rivals, which launched in December 2024. Keller assured continued communication about Stadium's development, with more insights promised in the upcoming week. Despite Stadium's popularity, Blizzard remains committed to maintaining and enhancing the core experiences of Quick Play and Competitive modes.
AnswerSee ResultsKeller emphasized Blizzard's dedication to the core modes, stating, "We’re still pouring as much time, energy, and passion into these as we always have. Stadium isn't competing for those resources: it’s giving us more opportunities to deliver Overwatch in a new, exciting way." He also teased exciting developments for Season 18, promising a thrilling experience for players.
Introduced with Season 16, Stadium is part of Blizzard's broader strategy to revitalize the game. This initiative began with an all-encompassing Spotlight presentation in February, leading to the reintroduction of loot boxes and an improved Steam rating, with many players feeling it's the best Overwatch experience in years.
As we await further updates, you can explore our guide to understand more about how Stadium works. Additionally, check out our recommendations for the best Tank Builds, DPS Builds, and Support Builds to optimize your gameplay.
