The Overwatch community has been quietly discussing an unreleased map for the past few days, unsure why the map was never officially released. 

The deathmatch map takes place in Malvento, making it a free-for-all style map set in the outskirts of Rialto in Italy. Screenshots show a Talon base along with gorgeous architecture, like brick buildings letting in rays of sunshine with mountains in the background. The Italy-inspired streets also allowed for a lot of close-quarter combat. 

Malvento looked beautiful and seemed like a fun deathmatch map.

But why was it never released? 

The last new map Overwatch fans got was Havana, released in April 2019. That's over two years ago. Since then, there has not been any new maps in the rotation. There honestly hasn't been a lot of updates in general aside from skins. And the skins? Nothing to write home about. 

Overwatch fans have been complaining about the game's lack of content for a while now. Ever since Blizzard developers announced the (slow) advancement of Overwatch 2, it seems that the original title has been abandoned. This hasn't been well-received by Overwatch players, who feel the game is getting a bit stale — and feel the developers don't even care. 

Malvento was going to be a deathmatch map, which is one of the easiest maps to design. Unlike other types of competitive maps, deathmatch maps don't have to consider the balance of the defensive and offensive teams. That's most likely why Malvento was created. But why wasn't it released? 

Some fans feel the Blizzard team is just too busy with Overwatch 2 to develop the map enough for an official release. Others feel that the recent accusations against Blizzard have led developers to hold back on any new content. 

Blizzard was recently accused of harassment, sexism, and gender discrimination, with the lawsuit even revealing that then-president J. Allen Brack was fully aware of the situation and did nothing to really support the victims. More and more former employees came forward over the past few days with their own experiences, which hauntingly mirrored what was outlined in the lawsuit. 

Because of the seriousness of the accusations, Blizzard may be holding off on releasing new content to not seem like they are brushing off the situation or attempting to bribe the community. It would possibly be seen as bad taste to announce Malvento as Blizzard continues to be accused of abusing and harassing employees. 

For now, the leaked map is a huge mystery. And with so few updates in Overwatch, it's definitely a mystery that players have clung to, the possibility of new content now dashed.