In an official post on the Battle.net forums, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan has outlined plans to resume the closed beta test next month. As explained in his post, the CBT was taken offline in December so that the team could focus on improvements, polish, and factor in player feedback so far.

One of the most requested features up to this point has been new game modes. While details are scarce for now, apparently the Overwatch team has been hard at work getting a new game mode up and running in time to resume the CBT this February. Variety is the spice of life, after all, and Blizzard is still far from reaching the game mode overload found in recent titles such as Battlefront. 

Along with the new game mode, Kaplan goes on to explain that new maps will also be added in the next update:

After looking through all of the feedback from last year, one of the things we noticed players consistently mentioning was their desire for more game modes in Overwatch, in addition to Point Capture and Payload. Without getting into specifics, we are working on a new game mode. And we’re very excited about it! And we have some great new maps to support it, too, but we need a little more time to get everything just right.

Rather than try to rush a beta patch out this month (which would mean the new game mode would have to be put off), we’re going to take a few extra weeks before bringing the Closed Beta back. By doing so, we can make sure we can include the new game mode along with the new maps. This will also allow us to do some additional polish to the game’s progression and reward system. Though all these features will still technically be a work-in-progress during the beta, we’d like them to be at a certain quality bar before releasing them for testing.

We'll keep our readers posted as we learn more about the return of the Overwatch Closed Beta, and in the meantime you can read Kaplan's full post over on the official Battle.net forums. 

Source: Closed Beta Update (official forums)