Bonus Episode 249: Hero Shooters in 2026: Booming Genre, Growing Graveyard
Hero shooters are somehow the biggest genre in gaming AND a graveyard at the same time. Marvel Rivals pulls 400,000+ daily players, Overwatch just deleted the "2" and relaunched itself — and meanwhile Concord died in days and Highguard didn't survive a single season.
Raz is back on Overwatch after a literal 10-year break (currently hard-stuck Bronze One and at peace with it), and Jake dabbled in Marvel Rivals — so this is a tourist's-eye view of the genre: why "easy to learn, difficult to master" beats Tarkov's 100-hour tutorial, why the counter-picking carousel never ends, and why a literal Overwatch pro got stuck in Masters playing DPS before switching to tank and winning 12 in a row.
Also in this one: the Overwatch 2 rebrand as a "Warzone 2.0 moment," 6v6 vs 5v5 and the tank problem, why ranked only counts wins, Rivals' team-up abilities, whether Marvel Rivals would survive without the Marvel IP, and the eternal question — is Valorant a hero shooter?
One of us walked away addicted. The other is still not sold. Let us know which side you're on in the comments.
Join the Discord for topic suggestions, and Patreon Hangouts start in August.
0:00 - Intro
1:21 - Announcements: Patreon Hangouts start in August
2:14 - New topic-suggestions channel in Discord
4:24 - What even is a hero shooter?
5:43 - State of the genre: booming AND a graveyard
7:08 - Live Twitch check: Rivals vs Overwatch
8:12 - The Overwatch 2 rebrand = a Warzone moment
9:33 - The graveyard: Concord, Highguard, TF2
11:06 - Which IPs could even make a hero shooter?
12:59 - Raz's Overwatch history: 2016, 6v6, the esports boom
16:28 - Easy to learn, hard to master (vs. Tarkov's 100 hours)
20:25 - What pisses Raz off: the knowledge check
23:33 - Playing every single hero just to learn the game
24:15 - Rivals team-ups vs. Overwatch synergies
30:05 - Why you can't one-trick: Widowmaker & hard counters
32:16 - Win-rate guessing game: Torbjörn?!
36:34 - Dive, poke, brawl: comp archetypes
38:51 - Role queue & what it takes to climb
41:28 - A literal pro is stuck in Masters
44:03 - 6v6 to 5v5: the tank problem
46:40 - Playing with Soph & the duo-queue disaster
47:50 - Comp is toxic
49:13 - Ranked only counts wins
52:32 - Jake's time with Marvel Rivals
54:39 - Long TTK = satisfying kills
56:25 - Knowledge beats hours in hero shooters
59:43 - First vs third person, 6v6 vs 5v5
1:00:20 - Overwatch's three game modes
1:03:52 - Sleep darts & ult-cancel galaxy-brain plays
1:06:54 - Is Rivals carried by the Marvel IP?
1:07:49 - Bans, Zarya, and Sombra
1:13:50 - Is Valorant a hero shooter?
1:15:14 - The pitch: go try a hero shooter
1:20:25 - Wrap-up: Discord, Patreon Hangouts