If Overwatch was gone tomorrow, the first thing I’d do is check the forums to watch everybody rage, demanding that they get a refund for their $20 skins.
I’m pretty sure most people think that when they buy something in the shop they actually own it. But that clearly isn’t the case.
Watching everyone freak out about “Blizz owes me a refund!!!” will be the best thing to happen in Overwatch since Overwatch 1. 
PvP is just a cycle between groups.
They can push it forever… but the gears will lessen with each cycle.
And they have to continue the cycle. (Or else management will notice.)
(aka why things are never balanced.)
We’re… free? We’re free? We’re free!
We’re FREE! WE’RE FREEEEE!
There is likely a calculated future point date where OW is likely lost more then they gained.
But not a math guy… Bonus points though who can figure that out…
Because that’s likely the real date.
Given the quarterly numbers for Overwatch itself, it would be easy enough to plot its profit gains (or losses) over time.
You would think a game would be kept running so long as its income at the very least, equaled its expenditures, and more realistically, one would expect its income to have to meet or exceed some set profit margin at a value much greater than zero. But it seems game company shareholders like to set a minimum target growth rate, where the profit margin is demanded to increase at a set rate, and failing that too many times, they pull the plug on the service, regardless if income was still significantly higher than the expenditures. Established audience and nostalgia be damned: shareholders don’t want their company to be in a downward business trend, making less money over time! Not when the company can put its dev talent and resources to better use making more money. (Usually that means discontinuing the old and making fresh and brand new!) Hopefully no one comes up with the bright idea for setting a goal of having to meet some arbitrary targeted profit acceleration. Otherwise I’m sure we’d be seeing far fewer of these live service games reaching even their first anniversary!
That said,
Even if we had the data, we don’t know the targeted profit margin goal or the minimum growth rate (or allowed decline rate, if we’re being generous). At best we’d only have a vague idea of when the Overwatch live service ends, which would be some time before the forecasted profit margins reach zero.
I don’t hope for the game to live or die.
I’d be fine with any outcome.
There have been countless amazing experiences playing OW 1/2 over the years. Trying to hold onto something I’ve already experienced or being upset that it’s no longer what it was is a waste of energy.
A lot of people talk about just “moving on” to other games. I myself enjoy many different games, so it’s not like I wouldn’t have anything else to play
But I couldn’t just “move on” the way other people do because of one reason: the characters themselves. It’s the same for everything. I can never actually find a “replacement” for any given game because my favorite characters wouldn’t be there
I would miss Brig and Weaver a lot
Unrelated, but it amuses me that this thread is right next to the “What if we built Overwatch 1 again?” one.
People really want overwatch… just not this overwatch.
People have tried.
The game is far too dependent on the serverside statescript to do so though - it can’t even load the main menu without a connection to a Blizzard server.
You’d basically have to rebuild the entire game from scratch
This game won’t ever shut down, because it’s too valuable for marketing purposes like WoW was. It will be a monument to gaming kept up on Microsoft’s own cloud compute practically for free.
But by community standards, there’s two kinds of “dead game” status that OW will definitely go through.
I also think during between #1 to #2, Blizz will introduce OW1 servers to sit alongside the “dead” OW2 servers.
I do not think there will be an OW3. Microsoft has no problem letting successful games reach the end of their run and moving on. But they will certainly use the OW IP elsewhere. Maybe even in an entirely different game like an OW PvE game or MMO. But there won’t be another OW fps game after this one.
Four words: Heroes of the Storm
…actually, one more word: Starcraft
Blizzard is now a Microsoft company, and the gaming industry drastically changes week-to-week since HotS got permanent content cancellation and Starcraft’s return on investment made less than a few shop items in WoW.
That being said, it has happened and can happen again. But I feel like OW2 has a lot of smart minds way behind the scenes (maybe not on the dumb dumb dev team, but those that are crunching finances, projecting earnings, and writing up five-and-ten-year plans for daddy Microsoft).
If you’re taking reality out of the situation, I think we’d all be better off. We’d find new games to play and the devs would be put on new projects. Everyone I used to talk to during OW1 was passionate; everyone I know that plays it now seems trapped.
Ironically, OG players have gone through this already in some way.
Overwatch 1 went poof overnight and Overwatch 2 was launched, with much excitement (we all know how that went down hill fast)
I have a weird relationship with the game, I hate a lot of things they have done with it but at its core, ignoring all the issues, I enjoy the gameplay, the characters, the art style and the potential of what it can be.
Honestly, nowadays, my friends I made in OW2 make the game still enjoyable and if OW2 were to suddenly disappear, I honestly couldn’t say how I would feel?
But I am still drawn to the game and Season 10 lack of content/filler, I’m hoping that Season 11 + they have some big plans. But I’m not drinking the copium cool-aid anymore as I was last year.
Plenty of other games to enjoy. Single player games are my preferred game anyway.
Just completed Dread Delusion, wow what a refreshing gem of an indie game, even with its bugs. First game in a long while that made me feel a certain way. Strong Morrowind vibes.
Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine
RIP May 24 2016. It switched off in front of my eyes… You weren’t there man, you don’t know 
WildStar
RIP November 28 2018. Was founder since closed alpha & full sub when released… Ragin LOL, luv’d the artwork 
TERA Online
RIP June 30 2022. Shame, I should have played this more b4 it was too late. 
C’est la vie, life go’s on. We adapt, we overcome. 
Now if OW2 disappeared, XDefiant, is it the new COD killer?.. maybe & there’s always Valorant I guess. 
Oh, this game is definitely being canned in January 2025 when they do more layoffs.
If ow player numbers continue to go up like they have been the future date is never.
Didn’t stop the modding teams.
I loved without ow in the past, I’ll be just fine. There are many games out there that are just as good as this game. Im not gonna day better because every game is unique in their own way.
They could do the “Cyberpunk” thing and do the Overwatch Anime series… but given the history and how the lore hasn’t really tried to turn things around. (Looking at Space Ranger and my in solar system black hole theory as the only way to save the lore. (Too much to explain.))
I don’t know if any anime studio would “want” to work with Team 4 given the history. Nor spend the funds for a “Cyberpunk” like Anime.
Plus out the anime we have seen,… I don’t know… something is off.
I feel like there is another black sheep there. (that we likely won’t hear about.)
Aka, Heard alot interesting rumors while reading manga in japanese.
Anyway… Yeah 4 years sounds about right.