Overwatch Mini-Patch Removes 4 Maps With No Explanation

Heroes Never Die, but it turns out maps might

In a move which has massively confused the community, a new mini patch has confirmed that 4 maps are now removed from Overwatch. In recent weeks we had before more accustomed to new content rather than old. It has, after all, only been a few days since the Junkertown map was announced.

The patch notes can be read here, but what is clear is that in both deathmatch and team deathmatch the following maps are confirmed as being removed from the cycle.

• Hanamura
• Horizon Lunar Colony
• Temple of Anubis
• Volskaya Industries

It should be noted that PS4 and Xbox games have not been affected by this change as of yet. Although before the console players start getting cocky, their removal is anticipated, however, in a later larger patch. It is just PC users at present who are affected by this immediately. As a matter of clarification as well, these maps are still available, but only in custom game mode.

Why have they removed these maps from Overwatch?

The patch notes do not give any clue. In fact, quite the contrary, they are rather annoyingly vague. Blizzard was certainly a lot clearer when they announced the introduction of perma-bans on user accounts than they are here.

We, therefore, have to enter the realms of speculation here as to why the maps have been removed. I, therefore, have proposed a theory (brace yourselves, it might be a bumpy ride).

THE THEORY

The maps are being removed to allow for some redesign to balance attack and defense. It can not be noted that particular maps such as ‘Temple of Anubis’ and ‘Hanamura’ have a quite restricted ‘door’. This does allow for a degree of bottlenecking which gives an organized defense a clear advantage. There is the counter-argument to this that a good defense has to be a good offense to win and that is true. Blizzard has, however, shown a lot of effort in balancing out Overwatch that it just might want to ‘tweak’ things to make defense a little less concentrated on one particular area.

Just when Blizzard starts blaming the gamers for lack of new content, they go and remove a lump themselves.

The truth of the matter is that I don’t have a clue, the patch notes also include some minor bug fixes, particularly to a recent Mercy character update. However, apart from that, your guess is as good as mine.