Kaplan said that “there will be a point where the clients merge”. But in between Overwatch 2’s launch and the merging of the two, the first Overwatch will get all the graphical improvements of the second game. This is to keep competitive play fair, giving no advantage to players playing on specific versions of the game.
In the same vein, both games will also be getting new maps and heroes at the same time. On a related note, Kaplan also says that the development of Overwatch 2 is the reason why updates for Overwatch 1 has been sluggish. That’s nice to know and all, but Overwatch 2 doesn’t even have a release date yet. With that in mind, it’s probably better to take things one step at a time. It’s not too late to get excited about the sequel being merged with the first game after we at least get a launch window. (Source: Kotaku UK via PC Gamer)