Overwatch 2 team reveals plans to bring Hanamura back as a “dope” new map

Blizzard has revealed how it plans to reuse Overwatch’s old 2CP maps and how Hanamura in particular could be coming back.

Overwatch 2 got rid of quite a few features included in the first game with the dreaded assault maps being cut from the sequel after the community’s negative reaction to them.

Although the classic locations of Hanamura, Temple of Anubis, and Volskaya still exist in the game, you won’t be able to find them in Quick Play or Competitive and instead need to load up a custom match.

However, the devs remain fond of these maps and want to bring them back in some capacity with Hanamura being on the top of the list. The catch? It won’t be the same game mode at all.

Overwatch 2 devs tease Hanamura return as a new map

Speaking with Twitch star Emongg, Overwatch Executive Producer Jared Neuss explained how the team uses Hanamura as an example internally as a map they’d want to bring back.

“Will we bring those 2CP maps back? That’s not something we want to do right away. But will we use the things that people loved, the kits effectively, from those maps, in other ways, yeah, absolutely,” he said.

With Overwatch 2 adding a new game mode, Flashpoint, in the upcoming Season 6 Invasion, the devs could potentially rework the Japanese map Hanamura to fit that type of setting with five capture points.

Of note, Neuss said the team is actively discussing Hanamura specifically and how they can “bring that world back into the game” but in a way that’s “as dope as the original.”

He concluded that he was confident that it will happen, so this could very well be something for fans to prepare for in the future. We’ll just have to wait and see.