Overwatch has enjoyed one heck of a comeback since dropping the “2”, and its first season, packed with new heroes, was one of many of Blizzard's good turns this year. Now we have more on what you can expect from Season 2 of Overwatch, short and sweetly titled Summit.

New hero Sierra for DPS mains

The introduction of Sierra continues the overarching Rise of Talon storyline and comes with a 3-week event, which effectively lets you play through her story and unlock more lore as you work your way through the challenges.

It beats watching a short, that’s for sure. Sierra is a DPS hero wielding a rifle that spits out spiralized ammo, and she has a personal connection to the Soldier Enhancement program (her mother was the first test subject). She also gets her own combat drone that goes by the name Dorothy, so this is a two-for-one kinda deal.

The 3-week Grand Mesa event will earn you more than story segments; you can grab rewards like voice lines, battle pass tier skips, and loot boxes, amongst other goodies.

Small but important improvements

There have been a number of quality-of-life changes since the release of the newest season, including an update to post-match accolades.

The voting system has been reworked to showcase moments that don’t necessarily reflect in the pure end match stats and show more personal wrap-ups at the end of your matches.

Additionally, the Antarctica Map has been adjusted to improve the layout and staging areas. You can expect better flanking routes and improved visibility across the battleground.

Time to spend those Mythic Prisms

If you’ve been hoarding your Mythic Prisms and you’re a Soldier 76 main, this is the season to spend them. Soldier: 76 gets his first Mythic skin, Volted Overdrive, which looks like it was pulled straight out of Cyberpunk 2077. It’s got four tiers of customization, allowing you to toggle everything from biotech ability effects to different hairstyles.

For those who prefer a blade over a pulse rifle, there’s the Sumi-ichimonji Genji Mythic Weapon. As you level it up, the weapon becomes reactive, splashing ink across the screen as you rack up eliminations. It’s easily one of the slickest weapon skins they've put out to date and looks like something more akin to a Diablo cosmetic, but I’m not complaining.

Perk refreshes and Stadium shakeups

Blizzard is leaning further into the Perks system with a mini refresh that makes certain heroes feel significantly more tuned up.

• Soldier: 76 gets Agility Training, which ramps his sprint speed up by a massive 60% if you hold it for more than two seconds.
• Mercy mains get a bit more utility with Double Dose, granting a second charge of Flash Heal.
• Pharah is becoming even more of a nuisance as her Concussive Blast now deals 50 explosion damage, turning a displacement tool into a finishing move-
• Ramattra gains Prolonged Barrier, a Minor Perk that increases Void Barrier’s size and duration by 25%
• Reaper gains Trigger Finger, a new Major Perk that refreshes Dire Triggers cooldown when using an ability and reloading.

Meanwhile, Stadium continues to evolve with Ramattra punching into the mode (with a ridiculously cool Diablo skin to boot) and a balance rework for Juno. Jetpack Cat fans will be happy to know he flies into the mode mid season. Because only in a Blizzard game, can cats fly.

Crossovers and blooming looks

The LE SSERAFIM collab is returning for its third tour from April 14–27. If you missed out on those Legendary skins previously, or if you just want to see Ashe’s dynamite with new RGB effects, now is the time.

If K-POP isn’t your thing and you already filled your boots on the insanely cute Hello Kitty stuff, The Sakura Collection is also launching alongside the season. It’s a softer, cherry-blossom-inspired aesthetic for heroes like Hanzo, Junker Queen, and the newcomer Sierra.

Overwatch is now on Switch 2… too!

Finally, for the handheld crowd, the jump to Nintendo Switch 2 is pretty huge news. We’re looking at 60 FPS in both docked and handheld modes with significantly higher fidelity. It’s a far cry from the blurry but functional port of the original Switch, making it a genuine way to play competitively on the go. There’s also rumours abound that Diablo 4 could be getting Switch 2 port, so looks like Blizzard is really making sure you can’t escape it’s games this year. WoW console port when?

A quick word for the bargain hunters

If you’re looking to fund your Battle Pass without opening your wallet, you might be thinking of heading over to Microsoft Rewards. Usually, cashing in your points for Overwatch Coins is the best way to bypass the paywall, but heads up: the coins are currently showing as out of stock. Not sure if they have been pulled completely from the program and this is a placeholder or not, but it does say “back soon” so watch this space.

Will you be jumping into Overwatch Season 2? Let me know in the comments!

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It's been nearly five years since Jeff Kaplan, the former game director of Blizzard Entertainment's (and now Xbox's, too) competitive multiplayer hero shooter Overwatch, left the studio in 2021. Very little was known about the reasons for Kaplan's departure then; now, though, he's revealed the catalyst for his exit.

Speaking in a colossal new five-hour-long interview with YouTuber and podcaster Lex Fridman, Kaplan revealed that he ultimately left Blizzard due to extreme demands for Overwatch revenue from the developer's chief financial officer at the time. Specifically, the CFO threatened to lay off 1,000 developers if Overwatch didn't hit certain performance targets, and told Kaplan they'd be blamed on him personally.

"What ultimately broke me and my Blizzard career was, I got called [into] the CFO's office, and he sits me down, and he gives me a date — which at the time was 2020, and was going to slip to 2021, but at the time it was 2020 — and he said, 'Overwatch has to make [this amount of money] in 2020. And then every year after that, it needs a recurring revenue of [this amount of money],'" Kaplan explained.

"And then he says to me, 'If it doesn't [make this amount of money], we're gonna lay off 1,000 people. And that's gonna be on you,'" he continued. "And that was just the biggest 'F*** you' moment I had in my career. It felt surreal to be in that condition ... I had believed I would never work any place but Blizzard."

"I loved it, it was a part of who I was, and I felt I was a part of it, and I literally thought I would retire from that place. I never thought the day would come [that I would leave]. [But] that was it — I was like, 'We're done here.' Luckily, for Blizzard, that CFO is no longer there," Kaplan added.

Kaplan then went on to discuss the presence of profit-first executives in creativity-fueled industries in general, asserting that developers and other creatives give up control of their work too easily when partnering with publishers or bringing financial officers into the fold.

"I think there's a message to creative people out there and people who make stuff — we're so focused on the love of the craft that we get lost in it, and we love doing it, and we're not cutthroat, and we don't have that kind of ambition, we have a different kind of ambition, but there's this whole world, especially as you're lucky enough to have success, that [is] very cutthroat and very ambitious," Kaplan said of the corporate and profit-centered side of the business.

"And for whatever reason, we keep giving ourselves to them. And we need to stop. World of Warcraft, when we made it, there was no CFO at Blizzard. You don't need a CFO to make World of Warcraft. You need artists, engineers, designers, producers, and an audio team," he pointed out.

Thus, he argues, the creative minds behind games should be more guarded with the "golden goose," and shouldn't give it to those who will prioritize chasing potential for maximum profit over doing what's best for their work in the long term.

"I wish developers would understand their own value more, and stop handing the golden goose to people who don't deserve it," Kaplan said.

I'm in full agreement with Kaplan here, personally, and it's tragic to learn that what essentially amounts to corporate blackmail is what drove him to leave Blizzard. I'm glad he still has a place in the industry, though; his new studio Kintsugiyama is working on The Legend of California, an open-world game with an emphasis on crafting.

🗨️ Over to you!

I was honestly pretty shocked to hear that Jeff Kaplan was given this ultimatum by the then-CFO of Blizzard, and it makes his sudden departure from the studio in 2021 all the more disheartening and sad. How do you feel about his rapid exit from the developer, and the reason for it? Let me know in the comments.

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The dawn of a new era for Blizzard Entertainment's free-to-play, decade-old PvP hero shooter Overwatch has now officially risen, with the studio dropping the "2" from its title, releasing five new hero characters at once, and kicking off a relaunch today that revamps several different aspects of the game.

First revealed last week, the Overwatch Season 1 update is now live, and kicks off the game's next chapter. With Season 1 — dubbed "Conquest" — the Reign of Talon begins, which is the first of the franchise's new year-long story arcs that develop over the course of six seasons. Vendetta defeating Doomfist and taking control of Talon serves as its starting point.

Season 1 also brings the start of a five-week long meta faction war of sorts, with players able to declare allegiance to either Overwatch or Talon and then complete weekly missions for rewards, with the side that finishes more netting themselves a bigger prize. At the end of the event, you can swap factions to complete the other side's objectives as well as a Double Agent, or remain loyal and progress through a Prestige Pass for loot boxes.

Of course, the big highlight is the fact that Overwatch has dropped five new heroes, expanding its roster to 50 playable characters. These include Domina, a ranged poke tank with beam weaponry, a shield with individual segments, and knockback to keep foes away; Emre, a former Overwatch soldier with a burst-fire rifle and bouncy grenades; Mizuki, a Japanese support hero with a healing aura, ranged blades, and a kasa hat that bounces between allies and heals them when thrown; Anran, Wuyang's sister and a damage character that hurls fire and can even revive herself phoenix-style if killed in her ult; and Jetpack Cat (yes, Jetpack Cat), a friendly feline with the ability to tether allies to fly them around (or enemies, with its ult).

Additionally, five more heroes are coming later in 2026, with Blizzard committing to releasing one new character with the launch of each new season. It's unclear if that cadence will continue in 2027 and beyond, but at least for the rest of this year, that's the plan.

Some other noteworthy changes and additions to Overwatch now live with this revamp include sub-roles for heroes and sub-role specific passives, an overhauled UI, Post-Match Accolades (an evolution of the game's original voting cards), new "Praise" voice lines for complimenting teammates, Vendetta's arrival in the MOBA-style Stadium mode, and a set of Overwatch x Hello Kitty & Friends collab skins, along with plenty of other cosmetics. Each season's Battle Pass will now feature two Mythic skins, as well.

All in all, this is a colossal update for Overwatch, and represents the biggest shot in the arm it's gotten since the game became Overwatch 2 in late 2022. The "sequel" was infamously poorly received due to the lack of planned PvE story content that was later canceled and a transition to a free-to-play, microtransaction shop-driven model that was decidedly less player-friendly than the original loot box system.

The move to 5v5 and the removal of one tank from each team was controversial as well (in the end, I do believe it was the right call), as many felt Overwatch was at its best played in its original 6v6 format. Blizzard did go on to offer permanent 6v6 modes, though.

The hero shooter has been struggling for years in Overwatch 2's fallout (competition from Marvel Rivals hasn't helped), but by shedding the "2," introducing a new live-service structure, and ramping up content additions significantly, Blizzard is fighting to bring it back into mainstream popularity — and so far, it's kind of working. Even before the Reign of Talon, Overwatch has surged on Steam, surpassing Call of Duty and Battlefield 6's concurrent player counts, and it's rising on Xbox's most-played list too.

Personally, I'm not coming back, as I've gotten my fill of Overwatch over the years and have moved on from the FPS entirely. If you feel differently, though, there are certainly plenty of reasons to come back right now. Give it a shot if you're interested.

What do you think about this new era of Overwatch, and everything added in its new Season 1? Are you excited to jump in, or are you not that interested? Let me know in the comments.

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Overwatch is having a bit a comeback right now, in no small thanks to it unshackling the 2 moniker and having a huge content injection including 5 new heroes to kick off it's new season.

Despite the season only starting today, Overwatch's Steam numbers have been impressive since the Blizzard showcase. Bearing in mind, Steam is only a tiny piece of the picture, given it's primarily on Battle.net and console. But the thing I am most excited about is the new hero, Jetpack Cat.

Cats make everything better, and the internet clearly agrees. The character has taken on a life of its own across social media, with fans turning their own feline friends into high-flying Overwatch heroes.

Here's some of my favorite entires for the Jetpack Cat challenge so far.

The Meow-v-p gallery

This kitty is ready to rain down paws and destruction.

This kitty's got the zoomies, the enemies don't stand a chance!

"Experience tranquilkitty..." Ok that one was bad, I'm not sorry.

This kitty's not here for the boops, he's here for the elims.

Don't worry he's not throwing the match he's just pawsing to wash his butt.

And well I had to make my own attempt too...

I'm downloading Overwatch again for the first time in years

After dropping the 2 from Overwatch 2, Overwatch is coming back and having something of a reset. Starting from Season 1 today, it will be telling a multi party story through it's seasonal content up until Season 6 called "The Reign of Talon."

We can expect updated maps, another 5 new heroes in addition to the 5 we get this season, new short stories and a bunch of in-game events. It looks like Blizzard are really going for fan service after scrapping it's PVE content in years past.

I for one am interested in Overwatch again for the first time in years (I'm sorry Blizz Overwatch 2 just didn't grip me the same) and will be jumping in myself when the new season goes live later today.

When does Overwatch Season 1 start?

Season 1 of Overwatch starts February 10 at 11:00 am PT, 2:00 pm ET, and 7:00 pm GMT. You can jump in and play one of five new characters: Domina, Emre, Mizuki, Jetpack Cat, and Anran (who is slated to get a redesign after some fan feedback regarding her in-game look).

Will you be downloading Overwatch again, or are you just here for the feline propaganda? Let us know if your cat is ready for deployment!

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Overwatch 2 is currently going through a bit of a renaissance after dropping the "2" and returning to simply Overwatch. It's still a team-based shooter built around distinct heroes with defined roles, with success coming from balancing those roles, coordinating as a team, and completing objectives to secure the win.

After surpassing Call of Duty and Battlefield 6 on Steam in player count, Overwatch seems to be gaining momentum. It appears to be recommitting to what players originally loved about the franchise.

Amid that resurgence, the voice actor for newly announced hero Anran, Fareeha Anderson, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to publicly campaign for changes to the character's design.

It follows fan criticism that Anran's in-game appearance looks almost identical to other female heroes, rather than standing out as her own distinct character.

Blizzard commits to Anran redesign after voice actor criticism

Amid Overwatch 2’s shift back to Overwatch, the game is also introducing five new characters overall, including a cat with a jet pack, though that isn't necessarily important to this story — I just wanted to mention it because it’s cool as hell.

Instead, the focus is on Anran, a new hero described by the game’s director as a tough older sister. The character has faced criticism, including from her own voice actor, who took to X to publicly campaign for changes to her appearance.

Fareeha (Anran’s voice actor) stated:

As is often the case on X, some fans were supportive, while others were less so. As someone who personally has no stake in Overwatch, I do not think it ultimately matters whether the design changes.

Blizzard, however, has agreed to revisit the character’s appearance and committed to adjustments that better align with its original vision. Game director Aaron Keller stated, "I wanted to take a moment to address one thing in particular. The team is currently discussing what it would take to make Anran look and feel like the fierce older sister that we all envision her to be."

He also went on to state it was something they wanted to share last week, but first wanted to make sure of the changes they wanted to make before making a public announcement.

It's also worth mentioning that Xbox Game Pass subscribers do get six hero skins, 30 Mythic Prisms, access to select shop cosmetics, and a 10 percent XP boost, so if you're a fan of Overwatch, it could be worth subscribing, at least to claim the benefits.

What do you think about Blizzard revisiting Anran’s design? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

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Blizzard Entertainment's long-running, free-to-play PvP hero shooter Overwatch 2 has had a rough few years since it relaunched across Xbox, PC, and PlayStation in late 2022, but that may change with the gigantic overhaul the studio just announced for the once globally dominant FPS.

In the developer's new Overwatch Spotlight showcase (you can watch the full presentation here or with the embed below), Blizzard announced that it's officially dropping the 2 from Overwatch 2, meaning it will once again be called Overwatch. Accompanying that change is the introduction of major annual story arcs that drive the universe forward, with numbered seasons resetting every year; essentially, think of every year as a story, and its seasons as its chapters.

2026's arc is the Reign of Talon — a narrative that's kicked off with Vendetta overthrowing Doomfist to become the Talon faction's leader — and its Season 1, named Conquest, is scheduled to go live next week on February 10. When it does, it's introducing five (yes, five) new heroes to the game, raising its roster to 50 playable characters.

These heroes include Domina, a specialized "poke" tank that fights from afar with a long-range beam and creates protective barriers that have individually destroyable segments; Emre, a "fast-paced run and gun" hero with a burst-fire rifle and bouncy grenades; Mizuki, an aggressive support with a healing aura fueled by damage and a kasa hat that can be thrown at allies to heal them; Anran, a phoenix-themed character that wields deadly, fiery fans; and Jetpack Cat. Yes, the meme is now reality, with the flying feline able to lift allies into the air for creative playmaking and carry enemies into hazards with its ult.

Notably, Anran is getting a hero trial ahead of Season 1's launch that runs from February 5 until the season drops, giving players the opportunity to enjoy her early. Blizzard also says that five more heroes are coming out in 2026's five future seasons, with one releasing as each one begins.

When Season 1 launches, Blizzard is also introducing new subroles that each damage, tank, and support character will fall into, with each one getting distinct subrole passives that provide some intrinsic benefits. The studio is adjusting and reworking several heroes over the course of 2026, too.

Additionally, Season 1 is bringing the first of Overwatch's new meta events where players have to pick allegiance to Overwatch or Talon and complete missions over the course of several weeks to earn rewards. Whichever faction completes more missions in total will earn some additional goodies.

Skins are a massive part of the Overwatch experience, and plenty of those are coming too. A wild Overwatch x Hello Kitty collab is launching alongside Season 1 and bringing themed skins to D.Va, Widowmaker, Juno, Mercy, Kiriko, and Lucio, and faction-themed skins are coming as well, along with new Mythic-tier cosmetics. Skins from the last six seasons that were previously microtransaction shop exclusives are being added to loot boxes, also.

Some other noteworthy additions on the way include two new maps in Season 1, a completely revamped UI, a reset for competitive play, the return of end-of-match player commendations, and engine upgrades that improve the visuals. Overwatch is also coming to Switch 2 at the start of Season 2.

Ultimately, Blizzard is kicking off an entirely new era for Overwatch after controversially reworking it into Overwatch 2 and scrapping its long-awaited PvE content. Only time will tell if the game's new structure and live-service cadence will bring players back, but one thing is clear: the studio is all-in on Overwatch moving forward.

How do you feel about Blizzard's new direction for Overwatch? Are you a fan of how they're reshaping its live-service structure? Let me know how you're feeling in the comments.

Blizzard has just dropped a blogpost and nostalgic boost of a video covering its franchises that announced a new multi-part showcase event to kick off 2026. This is an announcement, of an announcement if you will, that some announcements are coming. And yes, this looks like it connects directly to the Diablo 4 tease we got that something was happening in February.

Blizzard will be rolling out a bunch of developer-led presentations focused on its biggest franchises, including World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo. The showcases also double as part of Blizzard’s thirty-five-year anniversary celebration and will set the stage for what’s coming next this year, including the long-awaited return of BlizzCon in September.

Blizzard president Johanna Faries says the company’s teams have a strong lineup of announcements planned and that this showcase is "only the beginning" of what Blizzard intends to reveal throughout the year.

Where you can watch the Blizzard presentations

Each presentation will stream on Blizzard’s official YouTube and Twitch channels, with the following schedule:

• World of Warcraft State of Azeroth
  29 January at 9am Pacific, 12pm Eastern, 5pm UK - Youtube link
• Overwatch Spotlight
  4 February at 10am Pacific, 1pm Eastern, 6pm UK - Youtube link
• Hearthstone Spotlight
  9 February at 9.30am Pacific, 12.30pm Eastern, 5.30pm UK - Youtube link
• Diablo 30th Anniversary Spotlight
  11 February at 2pm Pacific, 5pm Eastern, 10pm UK - Youtube link

For Diablo fans, that 11 February slot immediately stands out. Blizzard has already been teasing that something Diablo-related would be revealed in February, and this anniversary spotlight lines up perfectly with that timing.

Whether we see something more for the Lord of Hatred expansion, a reveal of what the second new class is, or something even bigger, I have no idea, but this is the date I'm most eager to tune in.

Alongside the showcase announcement, Blizzard also released a new video titled “Blizzard: The Next Chapter,” which looks back at the company’s history using roughly 400 physical artifacts from its archives.

The video is sure to give you chills if you are a fan of any of Blizzard's beloved franchises, and I've already watched it 10 times this morning thinking wistfully of simpler times!

More details on the showcase can be found on Blizzard’s official website.

Blizzard Entertainment has given the world some of the most beloved franchises in gaming history, from Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and StarCraft, to name a few. As cool as its games have been, there are certain things I've always wished Blizzard would do with its franchises, but never did, as it clearly had a different direction in mind.

These wishes range from wanting certain franchises to make a glorious comeback after being dormant for so long, or a special spin-off game that explores universes that its most famous games couldn't.

With Blizzard's 35th anniversary this year, it's time I made my wishlist of things I want to see from it in the future. They may be pipedreams, but in an unpredictable post-2020 world, anything feels possible in my eyes.

A single-player, story-focused spin-off of Overwatch

During the mid-2010s, I was a fan of Blizzard's Hero Shooter Overwatch. It felt like what would happen if you took Street Fighter and turned it into a competitive multiplayer FPS with its fast-paced gunplay, charming characters, colorful superhero setting, and engaging lore.

However, as the years rolled by, I got tired of the competitive shooter gameplay and preferred watching cinematic shorts and Character Origin vignettes as I became more invested in the game's universe and characters.

For years, I wished that this game had a dedicated story mode that explored Overwatch's universe in greater detail because the limited-time PvE horde mode events and tie-in comic books weren't enough to satisfy my hunger for lore.

So you can imagine my excitement and crushing disappointment when Overwatch 2 was going to have a PvE Hero Mode, only for Blizzard to cancel it and instead focus on PvP content and collaboration cosmetics.

As a result, this completely turned me off from Overwatch 2. I wanted to engage in epic, dramatic stories involving Tracer, Winston, Genji, Reaper, Widowmaker, and all the other fun characters with engaging character arcs.

I didn't want to get into constant non-canon fights in small arenas and duke it out with other players dressing up as Optimus Prime from Transformers or Saitama from One Punch Man.

So instead of adding a PvE mode into the main PvP Overwatch game, I want Blizzard to make a spin-off of Overwatch that explores its characters and universe in an interactive manner similar to story-heavy CRPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 or Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, complete with tactical turn-based combat.

Heck, I would even take a cinematic movie game like 2025's last-minute hit, Dispatch, as Overwatch's beloved characters deserve to have their full stories told in an interactive manner rather than serve as avatars for esports competitions and crossover skins.

New Classes and race/class combos for World of Warcraft

Over the past two years, I have finally become a fan of World of Warcraft after avoiding it for decades, thanks to its awesome Remix event, years' worth of content updates, and being made a member of the kindest guilds in the game.

I enjoyed my time with The War Within expansion, and I'm looking forward to continuing the World Soul saga with World of Warcraft: Midnight to experience its awesome new features like Player Housing, The Hunt, the Devourer Demon Hunter spec, and more.

Although there are some things I would see Blizzard add to the game to make it even better, namely, new classes and strange race/class combinations.

The first new class I want would be a class similar to the Machinist Job from Final Fantasy XIV.

This class (which my fellow guildmates have nicknamed the Tinkerer class) would specialize in using guns, gadgets, and summoning giant mechs into battle to lay waste to enemies.

You could have a DPS spec revolving around blasting enemies with guns, lasers, and bombs, a Healer spec where you use mechanical arms and gadgets to heal and buff allies, and a tank where you ride a tank or a Hulkbuster-inspired mech suit to take the brunt of enemy attacks for your team.

Plus, having a Class specializing in mechanics would give races like the Goblins and even Gnomes a chance to shine, as they feature some of the craziest tech in all of Warcraft's universe.

Imagine piloting a Goblin Shredder mech/tank or the various battle tanks of Mechagon into a battle against Raid bosses instead of simply using them for transportation for once?

You can even give Mechagnomes special cosmetic appearances for the Tinkerer Class' abilities, where instead of pulling out gadgets and weapons, the Mechagnomes would transform their bodies into said gizmos and weapons.

In fact, when running the Tank Spec, instead of riding mechs, you can give Mechagnome Tinkerers the ability to combine their bodies with their tools to become a giant robot inspired by Mimiron, one of the most famous Raid bosses in WoW history.

I know I would play as a Mechagnome Tinkerer if it could let me play as a giant robot firing rockets and flamethrowers everywhere to give Mimiron a taste of its own medicine.

The second new class I would like to see in World of Warcraft would be a Bard class inspired by Warcraft's iconic virtual band, the Elite Tauren Chieftain. They would support allies with melodies while bringing pandemonium to enemies with rock solos.

The Bard wouldn't be just restricted to using a stereotypical harp; they would play all kinds of instruments like a one-man band that unleashes all kinds of effects depending on the type of instrument and song you perform.

A Bard's DPS spec where they shred electric guitars that would unleash lightning bolts or deafening AOE soundwaves.

They could also have a Healer spec that passively granted health regeneration with soothing melodies performed with synthwave keytars or provide damage buffs by singing emotional power ballads from the 1980s.

Finally, they could have a Tank spec where the Bard would whip a drum kit to draw the ire of enemies with drum beats before busting out intense drum solos that cause earthquakes to rock enemies off their feet.

As for race/class combinations, I would like to see the new Dracthyr race become Death Knights because the idea of playing as undead frost dragons sounds really cool.

Granted, I'm not sure how you would make the Dracthyr into Death Knights, considering there's no more Lich King, and I don't know what The Ebon Blade's stance on Dracthyr is, but I'm hopeful it can be done.

Another strange race/class combo I would like to see would be Goblin Paladins. After all, if Goblins can cheat their way into becoming Shamans by using technology to steal elemental energy, why can't they do the same with the power of light?

Plus, the idea of Goblins being Paladins would be hilarious because, being righteous warriors of justice, Goblin Paladins could be glorified, heavily-armored tax collectors that would hunt down poor sabs who couldn't pay their debts to the cartels of Undermine.

A new Warcraft strategy game

Speaking of Warcraft, I know this is an impossibility, but I would see Blizzard make a newWarcraft strategy game like the iconic Warcraft RTS trilogy, and I say this as someone who sucks at RTS games.

Warcraft 3 was how I was introduced to the Warcraft universe, and I still have fond memories building armies to take down enemy forces and its epic single-player campaigns that introduced the world to fan-favorite characters like Thrall, Arthas, Illidan, Jaina, and more.

Granted, it's impossible at this point to have a new Warcraft RTS carry on the story of Warcraft's universe, as that's mainly done by World of Warcraft (and various lore compendia), so if a new game were made, it would have to be a spin-off story with a new setting and characters.

But I wouldn't mind that so long as I get to build an army of Orcs, Trolls, and Tauren again while blitzing my enemies after activating the Bloodlust ability and screaming "FOR THE HORDE!", because I miss being in command of the Horde rather than being commanded by it.

A new Starcraft game

Aside from Warcraft 3, another Blizzard RTS I often played in my childhood was StarCraft.

This revolutionary real-time strategy game wowed players back in the 1990s for its fast-paced gameplay, cinematic single-player campaigns, engaging playable factions, and intense competitive PVP modes, which are still being played to this day.

StarCraft made a cool comeback in the 2010s with StarCraft 2, but has gone silent since StarCraft 2's last update in 2017, which made its multiplayer, co-op, and first singleplayer campaign free-to-play.

I, like most 1990s/2000s-era Blizzard fans, would like to see StarCraft make another return, as I missed blasting enemies to smithereens as Terrans, striking from the shadows as the Protoss, and overwhelming enemies as the ravenous Zerg.

If the reported rumors surrounding StarCraft headlining Blizzcon 2026 and getting a third-person shooter spin-off turn out to be true, then I wouldn't mind that either.

After all, games like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines 2 have proven there's still a place in modern gaming for successful power fantasy action games where you play as hardened Space Marines.

Being able to play Diablo 4 offline

One last thing I would like to see from Blizzard in the future is giving Diablo 4 an offline mode.

Out of Blizzard's most famous franchises, the one I've played the least is Diablo, mainly due to a lack of interest when I was younger, and preferring more colorful and over-the-top loot-grind action games like Borderlands and Monster Hunter.

I tried giving Diablo 4 a chance after hearing my colleague, Jez Corden, praise it with a 5/5 star review in 2023. But I couldn't enjoy it due to laggy servers being unplayable, my bad luck with poor internet connections, and none of the Classes appealed to me at launch.

However, 2026 may be the year I give Diablo 4 a second chance, thanks to the addition of its new Paladin Class (which looks way cooler than all the other classes in my opinion), internet servers being vastly improved since launch, and my home has been upgraded with better internet service providers, so I rarely experience internet lag anymore.

That being said, I would still like it if Diablo 4 had an offline mode to experience the main story campaign. With an offline mode, I can play the game without having to worry about server lag on the rare occasions that my internet provider experiences an outage.

I know that Diablo 3 eventually had an offline mode at the end of its lifecycle, so why can't Diablo 4 be the same?

Although I'd prefer not having to wait until development on Diablo 4 is completely finished before offline mode gets added, as I might turn 40 by the time that happens, and I'd be playing other games.

Here's to 35 more years of Blizzard Entertainment

Through all its ups and downs, I'll still enjoy Blizzard Entertainment's games and will continue to do so for a long time with my friends and family.

So, I can't wait to see what Blizzard has in store for its franchises when BlizzCon finally returns after a 3-year hiatus on September 12, 2026.

What things do you want from Blizzard Entertainment in the future? Do you think their games are fine as they are, or are there some changes or new gameplay aspects you would like to see added to them?

If you have any thoughts on the matter, let us know in the comments below.

The next hero in Overwatch 2 is on the way, with Blizzard Entertainment sharing a look at what's next for the ongoing free-to-play multiplayer game on Wednesday.

Wuyang (previously codenamed Aqua) is a Chinese support character with water-based abilities. His reservoir of abilities allows him to heal his allies in battle, while also dealing damage to dampen enemies' moods (and health bars).

You can check out Wuyang's gameplay trailer below, which shows off all his different splashy abilities in action:

Overwatch 2: Wuyang's Skills

As a support, Wuyang is capable of providing healing for his allies, while simultaneously using parts of his kit to keep enemies on their toes... or knock them off a ledge.

Wuyang is equipped with a Xuanwu staff, which allows him to shoot damaging water orbs at foes, as well as providing healing streams to restore the health of his allies. Wuyang's abilities can all be found below:

• Guardian Wave: Send a water wave forward that increases the amount of healing received by allies and knocks back enemies.
• Rushing Torrent: Ride water to move faster and jump higher.
• Tidal Blast (Ultimate): Protect yourself or an ally with water that detonates after a short duration. The explosion knocks enemies down and massively heals the host target.
• Overflow (Minor Perk): Gain 10 Ammo and 33% healing resource when Rushing Torrent is activated.
• Balance (Minor Perk): When you deal damage with water orbs, increase healing stream's passive healing by 40% for 2 seconds.
• Ebb and Flow (Major Perk): Guardian Wave rewinds to its starting location. Deals 50% decreased damage while rewinding.
• Falling Rain (Major Perk): Simultaneously control 3 water orbs that deal 60% decreased damage and have 25% decreased empowered explosion radius.

Wuyang is the second new character to be added to Overwatch 2 in 2025, coming a few months after the Nordic huntress Freya.

A good time to dive back in

I'll freely admit that I'm simply not playing Overwatch 2 as much as I used to. A large part of that is the sheer glut of multiplayer games that are available right now, with my friend group shifting from one title or another before falling back on wanting to play Marvel Rivals.

Still, Wuyang seems really cool. I like his kit, at least from what has been shared so far, and in general, I like support characters that can heal while remaining offensive at times. I'll definitely make the effort to at least try him out when he fully arrives.

If you want to play around with him before then, you can! Wuyang will be available in a limited trial from August 14 through 18, so act fast. Of course, if you miss this limited trial, you won't be waiting much longer for his full launch. Wuyang is officially arriving in full with Season 18 on Aug. 26, 2025.

I have to commend Blizzard for sticking to the aggressive roadmap the team laid out at the start of the year. Not just for these heroes, but also for the various updates that have expanded the game, especially with the wild third-person Stadium mode.

This also comes just a couple of months after the Overwatch 2 development team at Blizzard Entertainment unionized, forming a "wall to wall" union that's pushing to solve pay disparity, obtain work-from-home for many roles, and more. Blizzard's Story and Franchise Development team also recently unionized.

Overwatch 2 is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC (Steam and Xbox PC), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Xbox Game Pass subscribers get special benefits, including a 10% XP boost and a bundle of skins.

The Overwatch 2 development team at Blizzard Entertainment has unionized, as shared by the Communication Workers of America (CWA) on Friday.

This "wall-to-wall" union includes almost 200 developers, including artists, engineers, and other non-management roles. It's also the second union formed at Blizzard Entertainment, with the World of Warcraft team unionizing back in July 2024.

“Game developers behind Activision Blizzard’s hit franchise Overwatch have joined the Communications Workers of America (CWA), becoming the latest group of video game workers at Microsoft-owned studios to form a wall-to-wall union,” the CWA announced in a press release.

Outside of Blizzard Entertainment, several other unions have formed across game development studios under Microsoft, including at Activision User Research and ZeniMax Online Studios.

It also comes as the CWA has formed an industry-wide union for game developers to join, including any workers that were recently laid off.

Over 20,000 workers in the gaming industry were laid off in 2024, including over 2,000 at Microsoft, with many being laid off from Activision Blizzard King.

According to some workers speaking with Kotaku, the primary motivation was protection, with a serious effort for unionization starting after seeing coworkers laid off from Blizzard Entertainment. Other issues include solving pay disparity and lifting work from home restrictions.

In April, ZeniMax quality assurance workers voted to authorize a strike if necessary, with the union pushing for better pay and the right to work from home.

Overwatch 2 is on a hot streak for Season 16, adding a new Stadium game mode, a hero damage hero called Freja, and a collab with the classic mecha anime Gundam Wing.

However, Blizzard has decided to make dreams come true for Overwatch and fighting game fans alike as it has announced that Overwatch 2's next collab will be Street Fighter 6, the latest entry in Capcom's Street Fighter franchise.

According to the announcement trailer, the collab event will begin on May 20, 2025. The event will include Street Fighter-themed costumes for several Overwatch 2 heroes and emotes inspired by special moves characters use in Street Fighter.

The characters to receive Street Fighter costumes in the Street Fighter 6 collab event, as confirmed in the trailer so far, include:

• Juno as Chun-Li
• Hanzo as Ryu
• Widowmaker as Cammy
• Kiriko as Juri
• Soldier 76 as Guile
• Zenyatta as Dhalsim
• Winston as Blanka
• Sigma as M. Bison

The Overwatch x Street Fighter dream crossover has finally come true

Back when I played the original Overwatch in the late 2010s, I often thought that Overwatch was the Street Fighter of PvP shooters due to its anime-esque, over-the-top character designs and how the gameplay revolves around using "special moves" to beat your opponents.

I would have never thought in a million years that Overwatch would get an actual crossover event with Street Fighter, but then again, I never expected Diablo 4 to get a crossover with Berserk, so anything's possible these days.

Either way, I'm glad this Collab is happening as both Overwatch and Street Fighter are awesome, and I can't wait to see how the rest of the Street Fighter 6 skins will look in-game as Hanzo's Ryu skin already looks amazing.

On a side note, when the crossover goes live on May 20, 2025, I hope there will be a special arcade mode where we get to beat up cars like in Street Fighter's mini-games that happen in between fights!

Overwatch 2's Stadium Mode is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC.

Overwatch 2 has launched a brand new game mode called Stadium, and it is unlike any mode that's come before in the long-running hero shooter. In this mode, two teams of five players compete in seven rounds to see who can complete the most objectives.

Between each, players can upgrade their hero with a variety of new abilities and stat-boosting items that can completely alter their play style and potentially help their team win the match.

Each hero has tons of abilities and items to choose from, so it can be intimidating to decide which ones are right for you (especially since you have a time limit to choose them between rounds).

So we have rounded up all the abilities and items available for each hero in Overwatch 2's Stadium Mode, so you can plan ahead to beat the competition in one of Blizzard's best Xbox games and best PC games.

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Reinhardt

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Reaper

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Soldier 76

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Mercy

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Moira

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - D.va

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Genji

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Orisa

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Kiriko

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Ana

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Cassidy

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Ashe

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Juno

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Zarya

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Junker Queen

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Lucio

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - Mei

Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode - General Items (usable with any Hero)

Which heroes will you choose for Stadium Mode?

There you have every Hero available in Stadium Mode, along with all the abilities and items they can equip in battle. You may have noticed that not every Hero from the main roster is available to play in Stadium Mode.

Don't fret about that because Blizzard will be adding the rest of the Heroes to this mode in the future, and we will update this accordingly when they arrive.

Additionally, we will update this list when any balance changes occur and when new abilities and items are added to Stadium Mode, so be sure to bookmark this list for future updates.

Overwatch 2's Stadium Mode is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC.

Overwatch 2 has a new mode called Stadium, and I'm mildly addicted to it.

In a match that lasts up to 7 rounds, players battle across a variety of modes with a subset of the main Overwatch roster. The kicker? Each round earns you cash, which you can spend on items, almost like a MOBA.

The variety of items, powers, and other passives intersect and compliment each other, transforming Overwatch 2 into an almost unrecognizable game. It helps that the mode also features third-person gameplay for good measure.

If you're just getting to grips with Stadium mode, you might not have time to read through the massive list of Overwatch 2 Stadium perks and abilities, though? I've been reading some of the "best build guides" for Moira online and decided most of them suck. Here's my build for Moira, and tips on how to use it. It's much better.

Best Overwatch 2 Stadium Moira Powers

Moira is an evil support hero who sports a degree of notoriety for practically being a damage dealing class. Her orbs and Biotic Grasp abilities are great for those who don't have super pro aiming skills (like me) due to their area-of-effect capabilities. Especially on console, this means you can increase the turn speed of your joystick for faster movements, without necessarily sacrificing accuracy like you would with a hitscan-style hero.

But yeah, she is supposed to be a support class at the end of the day, so this build gives you the best of both worlds.

The idea here is to spam Biotic Orbs all over the place. The first rank lets you add pressure to damage dealers and other healers by letting you heal while also dealing damage. The subsequent ranks simply add more orbs to your repertoire, which can be used both for healing or dealing huge amounts of damage. This build shines in certain maps with corridors and choke points in particular, although you can still just blast most squishy DPS and support heroes by firing off 4 balls into their face all at once, and then fading out for an extra one.

The items also make this build even more deadly, stacking ability power, while adding additional range to your balls on top.

Best Overwatch 2 Stadium Moira Items

All of the items here revolve around boosting Moira's ability power, which is where all of your damage and healing is going to come from. The four items above are key to the build, but I've left some room to add additional abilities you might think fits your playstyle here.

Once you've started grabbing some of Moira's multiball capabilities, the idea is to just identify weaker targets and spam them straight into their faces. Once you've picked up Smart Orbs, the orbs will travel slower when hitting targets or healing allies, which is absolutely great for picking Mercy or Juno out of the sky. The healing orbs will also travel with you, while travelling alongside the DPS you're murdering. It's a great way to shut down flankers and attackers who may otherwise be expecting an easy kill. If you get enough cash, you can also throw Liquid Nitrogen on top of Smart Orbs, this will add a movement speed slowing effect to heroes like Genji and Cassidy, ruining their day. Or well, ruining anyone's day really. It's probably going to get nerfed eventually.

Stacking as many Ability +% items as possible will help carry both your damage and healing throughout the match, and has the added bonus of making Moira's ultimate absolutely deadly too. Fade up a death ball, throw out 4 more death balls, pop your ultimate on top — you'll evaporate entire teams doing this.

Overwatch 2 Stadium is surprisingly awesome

Overwatch 2's new Stadium Mode is probably the most fun I've had in the game for a long time. It builds on the successes of the perk systems introduced into the base modes, and delivers some of the promised customization from the deceased Overwatch 2 "Story Mode."

It may be a while before they can truly nail the balance here. I've felt obscenely overpowered playing Moira and Mei, and some heroes like Ashe clearly need some help as of writing. However, the promise is clear. Overwatch 2 is still delivering for its fans, even almost a decade after the fact.

Overwatch 2's Stadium Mode is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC.

On April 17, 2025, Blizzard unveiled a gameplay trailer for Overwatch 2's now live Season 16. The major news highlights from it included the new Stadium Mode, the Damage Hero Freja, and an upcoming collaboration with the classic anime series Gundam Wing.

Fast-forward eleven days later and Blizzard has unveiled another Overwatch 2 trailer, this time showing off gameplay footage of the Gundam Wing collaboration in full, which is expected to launch on April 29, 2025.

The Overwatch 2 x Gundam Wing collaboration is a limited-time event that will last from April 29, 2025 until May 13, 2025. During this event, players can earn special cosmetic skins for several Overwatch Heroes inspired by Gundam mechs seen in the anime.

These skins include:

• Mercy as Wing Gundam Zero.
• Ramattra as Epyon.
• Soldier: 76 as Tallgeese.
• Reaper as Deathscythe.

In addition to the cosmetic skins, players can also net themselves Gundam Wing-themed items like Shinigami title and the Zero System spray by complete special event challenges during this event.

Gundam Evolution lives on in Overwatch 2.

For those unfamiliar, Gundam Wing is the sixth major installment of Mobile Suit Gundam, a long-running anime mecha franchise that's been around since 1979.

The anime follows the tales of five Gundam pilots as they fight in the name of the Space Colonies to liberate the Earth from the tyrannical grip of the United Earth Sphere Alliance.

Like most Gundam anime, it is a war story filled with political intrigue, coming-of-age themes, and explosive action scenes involving giant mecha.

It feels surreal seeing Gundam partnering with Overwatch, as a few years ago, Bandai Namco attempted to create their own Overwatch competitor in 2022 called Gundam Evolution. It didn't last long, unfortunately, as servers for the game shut down on November 29, 2023, after over a year of service.

So some fragments of Gundam Evolution will at least get to live in the game that inspired its creation.

Blizzard is going crazy with these crossovers

Overwatch 2 is no stranger to crossovers as it had collaborations with Cowboy Bebop, One Punch Man, and Transformers, to name a few. Yet between this Gundam Wing collaboration and Diablo 4's Berserk collab running back-to-back, Blizzard has been going nuts with crossovers lately.

It makes me wonder if World of Warcraft will have a big collab with another franchise as well. Does this mean we could potentially see a dream crossover event between World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14, the two biggest MMOs in gaming, finally become a reality?

It is very unlikely to happen, but nobody expected a crossover between Diablo 4 and Berserk to happen either, so who knows what the future holds? We'll have to wait and see to find out.

Overwatch 2's Stadium Mode is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC.

Overwatch 2 has a new mode called Stadium, and so far, it seems to be a hit.

The round-based mode sees teams of five compete for points, unlocking a huge variety of powers and items that can be equipped between each round. The items and powers really alter expectations of each of the Overwatch's iconic heroes included in that mode.

What if you don't fancy reading through the exhaustive list of perks and abilities, though? We're going to be rounding up some of the best builds that have percolated throughout the Overwatch 2 community, starting with the spacefaring support hero Juno.

Best Overwatch 2 Stadium Juno Powers

Juno is an incredibly mobile support hero that can layer both pressure and healing simultaneously. This build augments her primary tool, Pulsar Torpedoes, with bonus damage and healing, alongside additional splash damage to help support your squad.

With a variety of cooldown-lowering abilities, you'll be able to use Pulsar Torpedoes far more frequently than you would in regular Quick Play or Competitive. This helps offset the increase in damage everybody gets, although burst remains a dangerous threat in the early stages of play. If your Stadium bout lasts through to round 7, Juno will end up with maximum rechargeability for Pulsar Torpedoes, which also has knock on effect of building up Ultimate more rapidly as well.

Maximizing Juno's playstyle in Overwatch 2 Stadium Mode revolves around staying mobile using both Glide Boost and Hyper Ring carefully to avoid hunter killers like Reaper, while keeping Pulsar Torpedoes and Juno's primary fire up as much as possible to keep allies topped off. Medicinal Missiles from Round 5 generates an Ana-like biotic grenade healing buff on the team too, which can really boost your own and your healing partner's throughput.

Best Overwatch 2 Stadium Juno Items

The items here are all about boosting Juno's ability power ultimately. Boosting your ability power augments your healing and damage on Pulsar Torpedoes, as well as the passive healing on Hyper Ring once you've picked up Solar Shielding.

While Juno isn't ever going to one-shot anyone with Pulsar Torpedoes, its ability to lock on from above makes it a really potent tool for finishing off retreating DPS and support heroes. The splash damage on Pulsar Destroyers also helps increase the overall pressure on the enemy team, particularly in choke points and bottlenecks. It pairs incredibly nicely with death ball ults like Zarya's Gravitation Surge, or Orisa's Terra Surge.

Juno's primary fire suffers a bit with this build, but can still produce strong healing throughput when paired with Medicinal Missiles, which boosts the amount of healing players receive by a significant amount.

Are you heading into the Overwatch 2 Stadium?

Overwatch 2's new Stadium Mode breaths fresh air into the maturing game, which has seen increased competition from the skill-oriented Valorant and Marvel Rivals on the casual end. Rather than take the competition lying down, Overwatch 2 has unveiled a range of initiatives aimed at refreshing the game. In regular play, new perks grand new abilities to players in Quick Play and Competitive modes as the match evolves, and Stadium brings a new layer of strategic complexity for those seeking to really test themselves.

Overwatch 2's Stadium Mode is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC.

Blizzard Entertainment has just released a new gameplay trailer for Overwatch 2's upcoming Season 16. This season will add a ton of new content to this iconic hero shooter, like the new Stadium Mode, a new damage hero called Freja, a ton of cosmetic skins to grab, and more.

Here are all the details you need to know about Overwatch 2: Season 16 (which is scheduled to go live on April 22, 2025) from this gameplay trailer.

First up is more gameplay footage and details regarding Overwatch 2's new Stadium Mode. Stadium Mode is a best-of-7-rounds contest where two teams compete in a variety of match types while earning Stadium Cash in combat, which can be used to unlock mighty abilities and Perks that completely change how a Hero plays.

This can be first-person or third-person, ala Marvel Rivals, to give players a brand new perspective on playing Overwatch.

The next major news shown off in the trailer is Freja, Overwatch 2's newest Damage Hero.

Freja is a bounty hunter who tracks her prey with a Revdraw Crossbow that can fire rapid arrows and an Ultimate ability called Bola Shot, which pulls in multiple enemies in one spot so her teammates can take them out.

The third major news announcement is DokiWatch!. This is a collection of new Magical-Girl cosmetic skins that will be available for Juno, D.Va, Freja, Brigette, Widowmaker, and Kiriko later this season.

DokiWatch! will also introduce a new Mythic Weapon Skin for Mercy called the Merciful Magitech in Season 16.

Other new features coming in Season 16 include a Hero Ban system for Competitive Mode to forbid certain Heroes from being chosen during matches, new Battle Pass and Shop skins to collect, and the return of Overwatch Classic (specifically the October 2020 Patch).

The end of the trailer shows a teaser for Overwatch 2's next collaboration event, which Blizzard Entertainment has confirmed will be with Gundam Wing.

Gundam Wing is one of the most iconic entries in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise, and this collaboration is made to celebrate the anime's 30th anniversary.

Overwatch 2: Season 16 will go live on April 22, 2025, while the Gundam Wing collaboration will go live on April 29, 2025.

Overwatch 2 is going all out to retain its crown as the king of competitive Hero shooters

Ever since Marvel Rivals jumped on the gaming scene in December 2024 and rapidly accumulated over 40 million players, Overwatch 2 has really stepped up its game to compete with the competition.

From introducing the game-changing Perk system, the crossover skins, the crazy best-of-7-rounds Stadium Mode, and the new third-person camera, Overwatch 2 finally feels like a proper sequel to the original Overwatch instead of a reboot, and I love it.

However, will this be enough to help Overwatch 2 contend with Marvel Rivals and secure its place as the top Hero Shooter on Xbox and PC?

Let's find out together when Overwatch 2: Season 16 drops on April 22, 2025.

Spurred by increased competition, Overwatch 2 is coming back strong with a new game mode: Stadium.

Revealed a little while ago, Stadium is a brand new experience for Overwatch 2, bringing a hint of Counter-Strike and League of Legends into the mix.

Complete with round-based play and third-person perspective options, Stadium mode has an economy layer where players can buy perks and equipment to boost their characters round-over-round. Microsoft and Blizzard dropped a new gameplay trailer today that showcases some of the new features, ahead of press and creator access later today.

In the trailer, we're treated to some new gameplay and hints about the new perks and features feeding Overwatch 2's Stadium mode.

For example, healing-focused Ana can now inject her Nano Boost power up into herself, boosting her own damage and healing instead of sending it out to a team mate, if none are available. Another perk allows Ana to Nano Boost all heroes in front of her in exchange for a lower output, which could combine with other multipliers to create new strategies.

Moira, who is another support hero that focuses on damage and healing, can now go fully damage-oriented, stacking perks and abilities that allow her to fire multiple dark orbs at once instead of the usual single orb. Reinhardt was also shown melting the floor with his hammer, and Genji's ult can be equipped to send shockwaves for greater range.

Stadium mode will also feature competitive ranked play, exclusive Stadium mode only skins, and more. It all drops on April 22, 2025.

Overwatch 2 is still a best-in-class shooter

Rather than let Overwatch 2 die on a vine like other publishers might've done, Microsoft and Blizzard are doubling down on the game to ensure its longevity. Marvel Rivals has undoubtedly brought fresh competition to Overwatch 2 in recent years, owing to its (suspiciously) similar formula and licensed Marvel characters.

Overwatch 2 has begun ramping up its own licensed skins as well, albeit without compromising the in-universe style Overwatch is known for. Stadium mode will also add a fresh new dimension to the tried-and-tested formula, while also giving players the ability to see their skins and heroes from a third-person perspective for the first time.

I have it on good authority that Blizzard is also exploring more trans media opportunities for Overwatch as well, as Microsoft wants to emphasize the franchise's key strengths of story, characters, and in-universe lore.

Blizzard is also reviving its industry-leading Blizzcon event for 2026, which should have some major announcements for Overwatch 2's long term future as well, as is tradition.

Stadium mode for Overwatch 2 hits Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC on April 22, 2025, alongside Season 16.

Blizzard Entertainment's PvP multiplayer hero shooter Overwatch 2 has remained, at its core, a 5v5 experience ever since the studio made the controversial transition from the original game to the sequel in 2022. However, starting last summer, the developer has been experimenting with modes that return the game to its original 6v6 format — and it's now been confirmed that its most popular iteration is sticking around (at least for now).

That mode is 6v6 Open Queue, which pits two teams of six players against each other and allows them to pick any mix of Tank, Damage, and Support characters, albeit with a limit of two Tanks per team for balancing reasons. Specifically, Blizzard says Competitive 6v6 Open Queue has been the third most popular Overwatch 2 mode since testing for it began in Season 15, so it's keeping it available for the duration of the new Season 16 that's scheduled to begin on April 22 and end come June 24. Additionally, the Quick Play variant of the playlist will also be accessible.

"Competitive 6v6 Open Queue was the third most popular mode in Overwatch 2 during Season 15 according to time played ... On average, there’s a 3:1 ratio of players choosing Competitive 5v5 over Competitive 6v6, respectively, but the 6v6 population has remained steady," wrote Overwatch 2 associate game director Alec Dawson in a new Director's Take blog post. "Queue times across the game have remained healthy and data from Season 16 should give us a better sense of how 5v5 Role Queue and 6v6 Open Queue can coexist in the long term."

• DEAL: Xbox Game Pass Ultimate 3-month memberships are just $25.99 at CDKeys, giving you access to Microsoft's service for a steep discount

Notably, there's been no hard confirmation that 6v6 Open Queue will remain an available Overwatch 2 mode indefinitely. With that said, Dawson's comments suggest that Blizzard is hoping to give it a permanent place in the game's list of playlists, so there's plenty of reason to be hopeful if you're a 6v6 enthusiast. Unless there's a significant 6v6 player drop-off in the coming months, I strongly doubt we'll see it go away.

Season 16 of Overwatch 2 is also bringing the new Damage hero Freja, a Nordic woman that wields a high-tech explosive crossbow, is capable of strong repositioning mobility, and can shoot a bola to constrict her foes as she picks them off with sharpshooting. There's also the Stadium mode coming — a wild new RPGified Overwatch experience with upgradable skills and abilities, a best-of-seven-rounds format, and a third-person view — as well as Hero Bans for competitive play.

While I personally still prefer Overwatch 2's 5v5 offerings, I'm glad to see that Blizzard is continuing to offer 6v6 fans a pair of well thought-out and polished playlists to enjoy. Many folks still miss the format of the original Overwatch, after all, and offering both 5v5 and 6v6 means that most players should be happy somewhere on the servers.

Overwatch 2 overall is enjoying a solid resurgence lately, with the hero shooter going neck-and-neck with its fierce Marvel Rivals competition as of data from late last month. Though it hasn't surpassed the player count of NetEase Games' title since the newer game's release, it's certainly held its own.

If you've never checked out Overwatch 2, you can do so with no barrier to entry whatsoever thanks to the fact it's free-to-play. Something worth noting, though, is that it got Xbox Game Pass perks last year; Xbox and PC Game Pass subscribers get access to six exclusive hero skins, a permanent 10% XP Boost for Battle Pass progress, and the ability to access Battle Passes from the three most recent seasons (before the current one) after they're gone for everyone else.

NetEase Games' Marvel Rivals and Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch 2 are continuing to trade blows, with the latter recently gaining ground but unable to overtake the former.

That's according to the latest insights from analytics firm Newzoo, which outlined the most-played games across different platforms in the U.S, U.K, and several other countries for the month of February 2025.

Per Newzoo, Marvel Rivals slipped a bit, falling two spots to the sixth most-played game overall. Meanwhile, Overwatch 2 gained in players, rising three ranks to the 17th most-played game across platforms, but still notably behind Marvel Rivals.

That's backed up by data from Circana executive director Mat Piscatella, who noted that Marvel Rivals took the first-place, fifth place, and seventh place spots for the most-played games on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox respectively for the month of February.

This shake-up comes as Blizzard Entertainment recently announced a cavalcade of updates for Overwatch 2, including a new Nordic hero named Freja, a new Perk system, and wild mode called Stadium.

Perks have already rolled out in Overwatch 2, while Freja and the Stadium mode are slated to arrive as part of Season 16 later in the year.

Marvel Rivals first launched back in December 2024 to an explosive start, recently crossing 40 million players as the developers added the remaining members of the Fantastic Four to the playable roster.

Healthy competition is great

As someone that's enjoyed playing both games, it's good to see some healthy competition between the two. Having another game with a large overlap in its audience means both teams should be pushed to make their offering more attractive.

I'm extremely curious to see if this trend continues and Overwatch 2 gains even more ground in the coming months, or if we'll instead see things stabilize for a bit.

Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2 are currently free-to-play on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. Overwatch 2 is also available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

If you're familiar with my work over here at Windows Central or my notoriety on social media, you may be aware that I have over 10,000 hours inside World of Warcraft.

I've spent a staggering amount of time in the land of Azeroth, Blizzard's pioneering MMORPG that changed gaming forever. For a time, it felt like the game was truly unstoppable and without equal, but with its 20th anniversary recently behind it, the gaming landscape looks very different.

World of Warcraft continues to hold its own, but there's more competition than ever for "service" type games that are the cornerstone of Blizzard's entire operation.

Whether it's Fortnite, Minecraft, or more recent upstarts like Marvel's Rivals or Path of Exile, there are more credible alternatives to Blizzard's classic franchises than ever before. That's even before you begin considering the rise of new, addictive forms of entertainment like streaming and algorithmic social media.

It's against this backdrop of incredible challenge and change that I recently spoke to Blizzard President Johanna Faries, who just completed her first year stewarding some of the industry's most beloved games.

From the NFL, to Call of Duty, to Blizzard

Coming out of Harvard, Johanna Faries started her career in the U.S. National Football League (NFL). For 12 years Faries worked across a variety of roles within the NFL, gaining a broad set of skills in marketing, strategy, and business development.

Although the NFL is "sports" in essence, the parallels to the gaming industry are stark, particularly given Activision's interest in developing esports. Indeed, Faries would eventually go on to become general manager for Call of Duty, the largest video game franchise in the world, and later, Blizzard Entertainment.

"My 12 years at the NFL offered me some of the skills I'd argue Activision-Blizzard found valuable at the time, back in 2017. Activision was really looking for sports and entertainment industry leaders to come in and help build a framework for esports," Faries explains, although she did have some reservations about moving across from sports to gaming, and not because gaming was unfamiliar to her as a hobby.

Faries herself has been actively gaming since she was five years old, she tells me, a self-described "Nintendo kid," growing up in an environment where gaming was simply commonplace.

The hyper-technological, fast-paced, community-oriented, globalized operation of Call of Duty forced Faries to really sit and consider the career move — with concerns she might be considered an "outsider" on top.

Ultimately, Faries did make the leap, and rose through the ranks of Activision-Blizzard to become one of its high flyers, described by Variety500 as one of 2022 and 2023's top business leaders.

Johanna Faries took over from Mike Ybarra last year, following the final acquisition of Activision-Blizzard under Microsoft. I asked Johanna Faries about the challenges Blizzard and, indeed, other gaming companies face in today's times.

As she described herself, the hyper-dynamic nature of the industry has seen many of the biggest players struggle to find their footing in modern times. Blizzard's own games like Overwatch 2, World of Warcraft, and Diablo 4 have all had big challenges of their own to overcome in recent years too.

I asked how Johanna Faries and Blizzard are threading the needle between satisfying the existing legacy fanbase, while preparing for younger cohorts who potentially want a very different product.

"You want to retain the players who have been with you going on 20 years in some cases. They have a certain set of expectations. Taking World of Warcraft as an example, you can't have every expansion being such a 'zag' that it feels totally unfamiliar to your core fanbase."

"At the same time, there's a constant conversation — which I'm really edified by frankly — about remaining core to what we are, while also broadening the aperture."

Faries explains that World of Warcraft's recent blitz to serve all types of players, with casual solo content, catch-up content, and super hardcore content underpins this effort.

She describes how WoW's recent soloable dungeon content "Delves" are appealing to her as someone who often prefers single player games.

"There's different demographics that only have so much time in their day. Creators have a certain expectation too, even before we get to commercialization of the content. It's a never-ending chase to strike the right balance."

"We'll be spending the next several hours here at the office talking about exactly that, and I think it's happening at a creative-led, player-first way. There are always more ways we can innovate that our players continue to want to come into these worlds."

Johanna Faries' answer here reminded me of a concern I've had for World of Warcraft recently. The game has turned a corner in recent years and has begun offering a far more compelling product than it has over a few previous expansions.

Ironically, I worry that it is becoming too good, or at least, rather, too expensive. The quality bar for World of Warcraft is becoming higher and higher, with players expecting more and more for a subscription price that has barely shifted in 20 years.

Overwatch 2 has seen similar pressures from competitors like Marvel's Rivals, and Diablo 4 has seen increased competition from titles like Path of Exile 2. Faries used Blizzard's recent relaunch in China in partnership with NetEase as an example of how the team is tackling these new challenges.

"A tangible example of this, and I'll get back to quality shortly — but there was a quality bar that had to be met to relaunch our titles in China recently, bringing these titles back to China in a way that feels 'world class,' but also for players who have endured an 'undulating' past few years."

Faries refers, of course, to NetEase and Blizzard unceremoniously parting ways under previous CEO Bobby Kotick, which saw World of Warcraft and other titles pulled from the region.

Chinese gamers are a huge part of Blizzard's active player base, so bringing the titles back to the region was a large undertaking for the team. Faries said Blizzard wanted to raise the bar for how Blizzard games are perceived at a global level.

"It has been tremendously cool to witness how agile each of these franchise teams at Blizzard have been, and to say it's 'not good enough' to simply turn the servers back on," Faries explains.

"There isn't a day that goes by where we're not asking ourselves, is this up to our standards? Is this better than previous standards, even? How does the next WoW expansion outdo this one? How can Overwatch reinvent itself in certain ways?"

"There's a constant nudge for us for us to stay on the front foot with respect to quality, and do things that are perhaps unexpected to reinvigorate the conversation around the quality bar we want to meet."

"Lastly, I'll say it's easy to say, and harder to do. But this is the calibre of the talent, the quality of the people of Blizzard — that they're able to maintain a bar, raise a bar, or even reinvent a bar."

Reinvigorating Blizzard development

If you go back over some of my articles from yesteryear, I wrote several angsty editorials about how Activision was unravelling Blizzard since its acquisition.

The essence of Blizzard, and the quality bar the company was previously known for, was coming apart under previous CEO Bobby Kotick, with ideological decisions being made at the expense of players.

Overwatch's sequel, Overwatch 2, would end up being hardly a sequel at all, cancelling its planned PvE story content and falling back on PvP gameplay changes that haven't always been popular.

Fast forward to 2025, and the game seems to be getting back on track, with the return of persistent rewards, a new gameplay-changing perks stacking system, and an all-new economy PvP mode called Stadium slated for a bit later.

The same has proven true for World of Warcraft, which had a sprint of very poorly-received expansions, before vastly changing its design philosophy, doubling down on catering for players of all shapes and sizes without compromising the core experience.

The recent expansion, The War Within, is arguably the best expansion WoW has had in years.

"One of the things I've really focused on is getting more, let's say, honest, strategic, cross-functional conversations surfaced. It's on me and the leaders to shape the vision, and decide what bets we're going to take, but we need to make sure we're creating space for the best and brightest developers in the world to just have a tough conversation."

"Let's get the right voices in the room and not feel like we're being overly siloed in the wins or proverbial misses so we can cross-pollinate any learning, and disseminate that quickly and intentionally across multiple teams. But also, to keep a sense of safety to celebrate the tough strategic conversations, right?"

Faries explains a desire to flatten the hierarchy more so than Blizzard has previously known, as the team explores things that worked (or didn't) more frankly than perhaps was previously possible.

Indeed, one sign I've taken personally that Blizzard has changed its thinking post-Kotick is with the introduction of player housing into World of Warcraft. It might seem like an odd example, but this is a feature people asked for for literally 20 years — and a feature Blizzard always had to explain away why they weren't doing it.

Now, they're literally giving players what they asked for, even if it seems like a potentially risky bet.

"This is a nod to everybody showing up ready to continue raising the bar. To surprise ourselves, invigorate things, and unwind ourselves from what could be 'limiting' beliefs, right?"

"The whole rubric of 'what got us here' might not 'get us there.' Or, if a new entrant comes into the market place, we have to get into learning mode very quickly, or just have a good conversation about where to go next."

Faries explains that by having frequent internal Town Hall-style events, they've been able to innovate on new features for World of Warcraft's player housing from people who aren't necessarily in the WoW team itself.

Faries recognizes that the "risky" unexpected moves like WoW's player housing, or Overwatch 2's new perks feature, have resonated and resulted in more positive conversations around the games.

She credits the teams at Blizzard for their ability to stay agile and remaining in "strong concert."

"We just met as a whole company as recently as just yesterday, talking about some of our additional future bets too. We're in this hyper-learning, hyper-agile moment, right in time to throw out some curve balls. Create player surprise, reinvigorate, and re-refresh — but not just for its own sake."

As Johanna Faries referred to "future, unannounced bets," I asked if any of those announcements included classic Blizzard franchises like StarCraft or Heroes of the Storm. Coyly, Faries replied "we have nothing to share today," with a knowing smile.

Blizzard into the future

With Blizzard's current games like Overwatch 2, Diablo 4, and World of Warcraft in a pretty positive place, it's hard not to wonder what the future holds for Blizzard.

The company has flirted with transmedia properties before, with the (underrated) Warcraft movie for example. But competing mega franchises like League of Legends have seen a ton of success with the accompanying Netflix show Arcane.

Nintendo has also enjoyed strong outings with its Mario movie, and Cyberpunk 2077 was essentially revived by its award-winning Netflix anime. I asked if Blizzard is ready to set its sights beyond games again, given that the company enjoys that unique pedigree akin to Nintendo, where nostalgia for its franchises represents decades of good will.

"The short answer is, we're looking at everything, and I mean that very intentionally — and I can't share anything specific today — but we talked again as recently as yesterday, that we have a strong collective belief that we are Blizzard Entertainment, and not simply Blizzard Games or Blizzard Gaming."

"Our universes, our iconic IP can vector off into many interesting dynamic directions. We have to be thoughtful, responsible stewards of those franchises, right? Not everything will fit, and execution absolutely matters. We do think about what we can do to show up for the entertainment industry, as broadly as we can describe, so Blizzard can continue to be a beacon of that sort of ... magic making, fostering joy."

"Blizzard's core foundational level is making world class games, but some people will go to BlizzCon and have their life changed. Meet their life partner. Some people will have a reunion gathering and watch that old Warcraft movie. That's part of what it means to stay in culture, and continue to shape it. So absolutely, that's the lens we're looking through here."

I want to give a huge thank you to Johanna Faries for taking the time to sit with me for this glimpse into Blizzard's future.

It's World of Warcraft's 20th year, Blizzard's 30th year, and my own 10th year covering gaming here at Windows Central. I am absolutely one of the people Johanna Faries is talking about above with regards to Blizzard fostering joy beyond the games themselves, as are many of you potentially reading this as well.

Some of my best friends to this day are people I met in Blizzard universes, with many of my fondest gaming, and non-gaming memories finding themselves at least incidentally linked to games like World of Warcraft.

People often find joy through their favorite sports teams or outdoor hobbies, but for those who grew up playing Blizzard games there's a special sense of community and belonging that these games potentially foster.

For my part, I found myself reassured that Johanna Faries emphatically seems to not only understand but also visibly appreciate that most crucial aspect of Blizzard during my call with her.

Blizzard Entertainment's new Overwatch 2 Spotlight livestream had no shortage of major announcements for the studio's long-running PvP hero shooter, with everything from selectable hero Perks and a new 6v6 Competitive mode coming next week with Season 15's February 18 launch to the new crossbow-wielding hero Freja and a new Hero Bans feature for ranked play slated to drop later this year in Season 16. By far, though, the most interesting reveal to me was Stadium — a brand new game mode getting added in April with the rest of Season 16.

The developers describe Stadium as "the biggest game mode we’ve ever made," and after seeing and reading what it'll entail, I'm not inclined to disagree. Compared to previously added modes that simply introduced new objective types, Stadium is going to be a wacky off-the-wall experience with "Powers" you can buy with a currency earned as you play through a match. These upgrades will be "transformative Powers that players can create unique builds around, setting up more strategic encounters that enhance the hero fantasy," and sound a lot like the power-ups we were expected to get in Overwatch 2's now-cancelled PvE campaign.

To give you an idea of what you can expect from these Powers, Blizzard has provided a few examples. In Stadium, Reinhardt can shoot Firestrikes that spread lava, Soldier: 76 can give allies attack speed buffs with his Biotic Field, Kiriko can throw three kunais at once and freely teleport around, and Mercy can shield teammates as she resurrects them. With D.Va, you'll even be able to leave behind trails of lava whenever you fly around, and work-in-progress images of the mode's upgrade screens (view them below) also show a wild perk that'll give her Ana's Nano Boost for eight seconds whenever she's knocked out of her mech.

As these previews of the upgrade menu show, though, that stuff is only the tip of what appears to be a very deep iceberg. There are four different types of upgrades you can get — Weapon, Ability, Survival, and Trait — and on top of that, there will be Items and Hero Items, too (presumably consumables). Notably, Blizzard says you'll be able to "seamlessly review, buy, and sell your mods" as you play, "as well as see the builds on the opposing team to maximize your strategy round to round."

Speaking of rounds, Stadium will have a best-of-seven-rounds format, making me think that individual games of the mode will be considerably longer than regular matches. It'll also have its very own Competitive variant "featuring multiple divisions, ranks, and unique rewards," and at launch, 14 of Overwatch 2's heroes will be playable in it. Over time, Blizzard plans to add more, along with fresh maps and additional game types.

Another thing about Stadium that's quite unique is that by default, it will be played in third-person, though players will have the option to swap back to Overwatch 2's usual first-person perspective if they want to. With third-person, "you will be able to see more of the battlefield and the direct impact your upgraded abilities (and those of your teammates and enemies) have in action."

I have to admit that all these zany upgrades and unlocks sound pretty darn cool, and on the whole, Stadium sounds like Blizzard took the Perks idea from the upcoming Season 15 and decided to run absolutely wild with it. At the same time, though, I worry that trying to put together a good build for yourself while also keeping track of what your teammates and enemies are using might be incredibly overwhelming.

Indeed, trying to wrap my head around how Stadium might play is making my head spin, but that's not going to stop me from checking it out once it's released in Season 16. And if Blizzard is able to deliver this "entirely new way to experience Overwatch" without it feeling overly complex, I've got a feeling it'll give Overwatch 2 a big popularity boost.

For fans of competitive games and hero shooters, Overwatch 2 is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games out there to play. It's completely free-to-play, too, though I should note that you get free skins, 30 Mythic Prisms to spend on unlocks, and a constant 10% XP Boost if you're subscribed to Xbox Game Pass.

Developer Blizzard Entertainment first teased "groundbreaking PvP changes" for Overwatch 2 at the end of January, with the studio announcing its plan to reveal them in a new Overwatch 2 Spotlight in mid-February. Now, that unveiling has finally come with a new developer livestream shown this morning that showed tons of huge adjustments and additions coming to the hero shooter throughout 2025.

One of the biggest features being added in just a few days when Overwatch 2 Season 15 begins on February 18 are Perks — special bonuses that enhance your hero in a variety of different ways. In each match you play, you'll be able to level up two times, first with a minor perk and then with a major one. Minor perks are "lighter upgrades such as small passives or cooldown reductions," while major perks are "gameplay-shifting changes" and will be "redefining what your hero is capable of." With Torbjörn, for example, you can choose between using his hammer to restore an ally's Armor HP or automatically reloading his Rivet Gun when you use Overload for his minor perk, and then either let his turrets stick to walls and ceilings or give it a Level 3 upgrade whenever you use Overload as his major perk. Notably, Perks will be active in both Quick Play and Competitive.

Season 15 also marks the start of the 2025 Competitive Season that's bringing a rank reset, fancy new Galactic Weapons, and both Weapon Charms and Player Portraits to earn and unlock with Competitive Points. Season 15 will also feature a new 6v6 competitive playlist — sure to be popular with folks who miss Overwatch's original format — as well as an Overwatch Classic: GOATS queue that brings back the triple tank and triple support hero combo that infamously dominated the meta of old-school Overwatch.

On the cosmetic side of things, Season 15 will see the return of loot boxes, with standard Loot Boxes earnable from weekly and event challenges and three Legendary Loot Boxes — ones that always drop a Legendary item — coming in each new Battle Pass (one in the Free track, two in the Premium track). Blizzard has shared drop rate percentages in its full blog post to be transparent; it's also said that you'll be guaranteed to get at least one Rare (blue) cosmetic in every box, with an Epic (purple) in every five and a Legendary (gold) in every 20. Oh, and Season 15's Mythic skin is Pixiu Zenyatta, with Dame Chance Widowmaker offered as its Mythic weapon.

Where things are really looking like they'll ramp up for Overwatch 2, though, is in April when Season 16 starts. Once it comes around, Blizzard will add a wild new mode called Stadium that features a best-of-seven-rounds format and an earnable currency you can spend on "transformative Powers that players can create unique builds around, setting up more strategic encounters that enhance the hero fantasy beyond anything we've released." Some examples of Powers given by the developers include Reinhardt's Firestrikes spreading roiling lava, Soldier: 76 giving allies who stand in his Biotic Field an attack speed increase, and Mercy protecting resurrected allies with a shield, among others.

Uniquely, Stadium will also be played in third-person view by default, though you'll have the option for Overwatch's first-person perspective, too; Blizzard says this "creates a more dynamic experience" and allows you "to see more of the battlefield and the direct impact your upgraded abilities ... have in action." On top of that, Stadium will feature bespoke UI elements and visual effects to make it easy to "seamlessly review, buy, and sell your mods (which encompass Items, Hero Items, and Powers)," and also see what players on the other team are using.

When Stadium releases, it'll have its own Ranked mode with divisions, ranks, and rewards. At launch, 14 of Overwatch 2's heroes will be playable in it, though the developers plan to add more heroes, maps, and game types to it over time.

Season 16 is also when we'll see Overwatch 2's next damage hero, Freja, come to the game (though she'll be made briefly playable during a Season 15 free weekend). She's a "former search and rescue operative turned bounty hunter," and fights with an explosive crossbow. Her basic attacks consist of quick and precise shots from her Revdraw Crossbow, but with her Take Aim ability, she can slow down and fire a heavier shot "that’ll turn targets into fireworks." Quick Dash and Updraft, meanwhile, give Freja some mobility, with the former acting as a dodge that sounds like it'll refresh Take Aim and the latter allowing her to leap into the air for a shot from elevation. Finally, there's Bola Shot, and Ultimate that wraps targets up and pulls in nearby enemies for combo playmaking.

April will also bring the introduction of Hero Bans, a system that will allow teams to "target strong or frustrating heroes" and prevent them from being played during a Competitive match. Later in 2025, Map Voting will be added as well so you can vote for the maps you prefer to play on. Beyond that, Season 18 will introduce Hero 44 — a Chinese hero codenamed Aqua "wielding water-based abilities that can manipulate the battlefield with an innovative playstyle" — when it eventually rolls around.

Overall, these are some massive changes and pieces of new content headed to Overwatch 2, with Blizzard clearly hoping to revitalize widespread interest in the game in the wake of the rise of direct competitor Marvel Rivals. Both Perks and Season 16's Stadium mode have the potential to be a huge shot in the arm for the hero shooter, and I'm curious to try out both once they come out; Perks and Season 15 are only a week away, so I'll definitely be reinstalling soon.

For fans of competitive games and hero shooters, Overwatch 2 is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games out there to play. It's completely free-to-play, too, though I should note that you get free skins, 30 Mythic Prisms to spend on unlocks, and a constant 10% XP Boost if you're subscribed to Xbox Game Pass.

Developer Blizzard Entertainment took a deep dive on Wednesday into big changes coming to its free-to-play shooter Overwatch 2 in the near future, and one of the biggest changes for moment-to-moment gameplay is the introduction of a Perk system. This new mechanic allows players to level up during a match, choosing Minor and Major perks that thoroughly alter how a hero works.

Have you ever wanted Winston to have Chain Lightning that hits multiple enemies? Maybe you'd like Baptiste to have a Shoulder Turret that further boosts his healing. Or maybe you've got spite in your heart (I understand) and would like to Ramattra's Ravenous Vortex to explode mid-air.

Blizzard Entertainment has been working on some iteration of this system for the past year, though the developers say it's really come together in the last few months. Perks are meant to strike a balance between preserving Overwatch gameplay while also feeling fresh, something far easier said than done. The team went through multiple versions, realizing more than one choice per game was needed in order to make the system work.

Now, players will choose Perks twice in a match as their hero earns levels. First, at level 2, there'll be a choice between two Minor perks, which are more modest upgrades, such as Orisa's Heat Dissipater, which refunds Primary Fire heat buildup whenever she gets critical hits.

At level 3, there are two Major Perks to choose from, and these are the more radical shift that can significantly alter a hero's usage. Orisa can choose between Charged Javelins that are more powerful, or completely drop her Javelin Spin in exchange for Protective Banner, providing a powerful shield.

The developers say this is always meant to provide an option for playing a hero in a new way, while also having an option for enhancing the hero's existing functionality if you don't feel like changing. Selecting these Perks is designed to be snappy so you don't get distracted while playing. By default with Standard Selection on PC, players can hold down Alt then click to select an option. Meanwhile, console users can hold up on the D-pad, then use the bumpers to choose a Perk. If that's still too slow, there's also a "one-button" Quick Selection option that's available.

When are Perks arriving in Overwatch 2?

Players won't be waiting long to go hands-on with this new Perk system, as Perks will be rolling out as part of Overwatch 2 Season 15, which kicks off on Feb. 18, 2025. That's only part of the major updates coming to Overwatch 2 soon, as the game is also getting a 6v6 competitive playlist for anyone craving original Overwatch-style team composition. Blizzard is also working on a gargantuan new mode called Stadium in Season 16. This mode is introducing some wild new ways to play, including adding a third-person camera.

Overwatch 2 is also getting two new heroes over the next couple of seasons. The first, Freja, is a crossbow-armed bounty hunter coming in Season 16. The second? A water-manipulater, currently known by the codename Aqua, who'll be arriving as part of Season 18.

I'll freely admit I haven't played Overwatch 2 in a bit — and yes, the meteoric rise of Marvel Rivals has been part of the reason why — but all these updates sound intriguing, so I'll definitely be hopping in to check out Season 15 and beyond. I'm particularly intrigued by the Perk system. If the developers can balance everything, which certainly won't be easy, then this will radically change how matches play out for the better.

Overwatch 2 is free-to-play on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers get additional benefits when playing, including free skins and a 10% XP boost.

Blizzard Entertainment shared a fair bit on what's coming to Overwatch 2 over the course of 2025, and that includes a look at the next hero, Freja. This former rescue operative has turned to a life of bounty hunting, and that means her kit is based all around trapping her foes before demolishing them with explosives.

Naturally, that means she's a damage-type hero, focused on eliminating enemy players by picking them off through clever maneuvers on the battlefield. Here's an overview of Freja's abilities:

• Revdraw Crossbow: A rapid-fire crossbow that serves as her primary weapon
• Take Aim: Freja carefully fires a single explosive crossbow bolt into an enemy
• Quick Dash: Freja quickly dashes in any direction, reloading her explosive bolt at the same time
• Updraft: Freja launches herself in the air, getting a new angle on the battlefield
• Bola Shot: Wraps an enemy in an explosive bola

The developers describe Freja as being "challenging and rewarding" to use, requiring steady aim in order to make the most of her abilities.

A quick peak at the *next* hero, codename "Aqua"

In addition to giving us a breakdown of what to expect from Freja, Blizzard Entertainment also shared a peak at Hero 44, the next hero that'll be added to the game after this icy bounty hunter.

Codenamed "Aqua," Hero 44 is a Chinese character that wields water-based abilities with an "innovative playstyle," and there'll be more details to come later in 2025. "Aqua" is currently planned to arrive in Overwatch 2 as part of Season 18.

When is Freja available in Overwatch 2?

Players won't be waiting too long to give this Nordic huntress a spin, as Freja is scheduled to arrive in Overwatch 2 as part of Season 16. If that still feels too far out however, she'll also be available to test during Season 15 as part of a free trial weekend, though the exact date has yet to be announced.

Freja is coming at a time when Overwatch 2 is getting some massive updates. The Perk system arriving in Season 15 is shaking up how the game is played per-match, with new options for evolving and improving hero abilities as you level up twice, first choosing a Minor Perk, and then a Major Perk. There's also the wild new Stadium mode coming in Season 16, which (among many other things) even includes a third-person camera.

I really like Freja's design, and I can't wait to see what kind of skins she gets. While I usually gravitate more toward tanks or support heroes, her kit sounds cool, so I'm definitely eager to try her out. Overwatch 2: Season 15 kicks on Feb. 18, 2025.

Overwatch 2 is free-to-play on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers get additional benefits when playing, including free skins and a 10% XP boost.

Blizzard Entertainment's free-to-play PvP hero shooter Overwatch 2 has gone through something of a significant rough patch lately, with overall player engagement and interest seemingly lower than it's been in the game's past. Today, however, the studio revealed that it's planning to shake things up with "groundbreaking PvP gameplay changes" soon, and will go over what these are in an Overwatch 2 Spotlight livestream on YouTube and Twitch that's scheduled for February 12, 2025 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. GMT.

In Blizzard's official announcement post, it noted that "in 2025, Overwatch 2 is going to be packed with groundbreaking changes to the PvP experience that will be unlike anything you’ve seen before," before going on to say that "it’s going to take more than a blog or a developer update to let you know what we have coming this year." The livestream, then, will give the game's fans a deep and thorough overview of everything the developer is doing to revitalize the acclaimed FPS.

While we don't know exactly what's coming yet, Blizzard has shared some noteworthy details about what to expect. Specifically, players can look forward to "incredible changes [to] how the game is played," along with "a glance at new heroes, new maps, and even more content coming this February and beyond."

While that latter bit sounds a lot like standard fare you'd expect from new Overwatch 2 seasons, the first part about the hero shooter's structure will definitely raise some eyebrows. Given that there's been a ton of 6v6 playtesting in Overwatch 2 recently, I'm wondering if Blizzard is going to revert the game back to the 6v6 format Overwatch originally had; 5v5 has always been very controversial, after all, though I don't believe 6v6 would fix the game's issue of tanks being frustrating to play. A return to 6v6 would also lead to the awkward question of "what was the point of Overwatch 2, then?" considering the fact that 5v5 and its now-cancelled PvE campaign were its two largest distinguishing factors.

Whatever the studio is planning, it's coming at a good time, as Overwatch 2 now has a direct competitor in Marvel Rivals. Like Overwatch, NetEase's new hit is free-to-play and has accessible system requirements, along with a huge roster of characters, lots of interesting interactions between their abilities, and destructible environments that give its maps some unique flair. Since it's launch in early December, Rivals has quickly garnered a huge fanbase and is consistently one of the most-played games on Steam according to SteamDB data. Microsoft's Xbox chart also shows that it's the seventh most-played game on that platform; Overwatch 2 is in eighteenth place by comparison.

Marvel Rivals' explosive success has been impressive to see, though whether it remains this popular in the long-term remains to be seen. Regardless, its big debut highlights the importance of Blizzard getting Overwatch 2 into a state more players are happy with, which is why I expect the studio is planning a substantial overhaul for the game and wants to show it off to fans soon.

Notably, Blizzard has confirmed that in addition to seeing what's coming during the Overwatch 2 Spotlight, fans will also be able to check out several fan-favorite Overwatch content creators testing the changes out firsthand on the same day. If you link your Twitch or YouTube account to Battle.net and then watch one of the creators that Blizzard invites out to its headquarters on February 12 for one hour, you'll get the Cyber DJ Legendary Lucio skin (pictured above) as a drop reward. The streamers the developer is bringing out haven't been announced yet, but I imagine Blizzard will have more to share soon.

All in all, I think Blizzard is definitely making the right call in trying to renew interest in Overwatch 2 with structural/format adjustments and what sounds like a beefy roadmap for 2025. We'll have to wait and see if they actually have the desired effect, of course, but my curiosity is piqued. Come February 12, I'll be tuning in.

For fans of competitive games and hero shooters, Overwatch 2 is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games out there to play. It's completely free-to-play, too, though I should note that you get free skins, 30 Mythic Prisms to spend on unlocks, and a constant 10% XP Boost if you're subscribed to Xbox Game Pass.

2024 marks the first full year of Activision Blizzard under Microsoft, following the most expensive acquisition in gaming history. Today, Blizzard President Johanna Faries shared a year-end statement reflecting on the company's progress.

Before you get too excited, there are no juicy financials here — like the $1 billion and counting made in microtransactions by Diablo 4; this recap reads more like a gaming-themed Spotify Wrapped. Still, it includes some fun analogies, and having attended Gamescom 2024, I can say Xbox’s booth was its biggest yet, thanks largely to Blizzard’s massive presence.

8.34 billion game hours across Blizzard games in 2024

Yep for 2024 year to date across all games & platforms under Blizzard, thats the Diablo, Warcraft and Overwatch franchises, we collectively played 8.34 billion in games hours.

Pretty sure a good chunk of that was my time in Diablo 4, which topped my list for my Xbox Year in Review.

There's a lot of waffling going on through Battle.net

In 2024, more than 379 million messages were sent through Battle.net. "If you spent 5 seconds reading each message, it would take 60 years of non-stop reading to finish them all." That's a lot of "tp to me" and "I paid $90 for this mount bro don't tell my wife." I'm sure.

2025 will probably be even busier for Battle.net as Microsoft add some of it's own studios titles to the launcher, with the surprise announcement recently of Avowed launching day one on Battle.net.

Warcraft Wow and Rumble statistics

World of Warcraft saw many players return for its War Within expansion this year, which isn't great news for the Spiders/Nerubians as you killed 4.5 billion of them. This is the first in a multi-expansion story arc for the game, the Worldsoul Saga, which will unfold over another two expansions.

In Warcraft Rumble, over 400 million Cenarion family minis were played, an earnable reward in Season 7.

Hearthstone and Diablo

Hearthstone lives on, with players flexing their Murloc minions aplomb. Diablo 4 saw us killing over 1.7 trillion demons, an all-time high — what they haven't told us is if this is 50% Tormented Duriel runs with us desperately trying to earn a Mythic Unique. Blizzard launched Vessel of Hatred, the first of its expansions (plural as stated by Rod Ferguson), and it will be interesting to see how 2025 unfolds with competition from the likes of Path of Exile 2.

Diablo Immortal and Overwatch stats

480 million players died in Diablo Immortal, which is ironic, not so immortal now, are we? Then Overwatch boasts over 203 years played in-game hours combined over the new Clash maps. The traditional charity skin for Mercy was also a hit, with Pink Mercy campaigns from this year and 2018 now accounting for a total $25 million donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF).

"In our first full year as a part of Xbox, we've been thrilled to embrace our new community and to broaden access to Blizzard games."

Johanna Faries joined Blizzard Entertainment in January of this year. Coming from management of the Call of Duty franchise under Activision Blizzard, this end-of-year note represents her first year at the helm of Blizzard.

"As I approach my first full year with Blizzard, I am filled with deep gratitude and inspiration. The powerful work that our teams have produced—both for our player communities around the world and for each other—is nothing short of amazing. It remains a daily honor to work alongside such a talented and dedicated group of people, who are the guiding force behind what makes Blizzard such a special place. I am incredibly grateful for their camaraderie and collaboration, feedback and guidance, resilience and creativity, and their commitment to excellence each and every day."

You can check out the full blog post here, but Faries finishes her statement by acknowledging this first milestone for Blizzard as part of Xbox. "Beyond the tremendous achievements and milestone markers within our games and teams, we've also taken part in some pretty big developments. In our first full year as part of Xbox, we've been thrilled to embrace our new community and to broaden access to Blizzard games."

Faries hints at more "2025 is poised to be another big year of new and exciting experiences to come."

As for me? I'm personally hoping that means another Diablo 4 expansion and more Blizzard games on Xbox Game Pass!

What you need to know

• Blizzard and Xbox have just announced that Overwatch 2, the free-to-play hero shooter, will be coming to Xbox Game Pass on September 17, 2024.
• This actually means that if you have Xbox Game Pass, you will now get a bunch of exclusive cosmetics for the game and a one-time bonus of Mythic Prisms.
• Many people are already asking if this means they can play Overwatch 2 on Xbox Cloud Gaming, and the answer is no. Xbox does not own the rights to this; Ubisoft does. 

Blizzard and Xbox just announced that Overwatch 2 will be added to Xbox Game Pass on September 17. You might be wondering, "But isn’t Overwatch 2 free-to-play?" Yes, it is—but Game Pass players will receive additional perks. By linking your Battle.net account, you can unlock exclusive bonuses as part of your Xbox Game Pass subscription. Here’s a quick look at what Overwatch 2’s arrival brings to the huge Xbox Game Pass library (and no, it's not coming to Cloud Gaming).

Overwatch 2 is free-to-play, so what does adding to Xbox Game Pass actually mean?

Although Blizzard’s blogpost states that "Overwatch 2 is coming to Xbox Game Pass," the reality is that it works more like Game Pass perks.

Starting September 17, linking your Battle.net and Xbox accounts will unlock six exclusive hero skins: Cardboard Reinhardt, Turtleship D.Va, Cyberdragon Hanzo, Street Runner Genji, Bee Mercy, and Cleric Lifeweaver.

Additionally, if you link your accounts by November 11, you’ll receive a one-time bonus of 30 Mythic Prisms, which can be used to purchase Mythic Shop cosmetics and upgrades.

You’ll also gain access to cosmetics from the past three seasons, offering new players a chance to catch up on previously released skins. On top of that, Game Pass subscribers will enjoy a 10% XP boost, helping you level up your Battle Pass or climb the competitive ranks faster.

Is Overwatch 2 Coming to Xbox Cloud Gaming?

No, Overwatch 2 will not be available on Xbox Cloud Gaming at least not for now. This has caused some confusion, with many assuming it would be included—similar to the misunderstanding with Diablo 4. However, due to the terms of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, it won’t be part of the service without separate negotiations.

During the acquisition process in 2023, Microsoft's deal faced scrutiny from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). To gain approval, Microsoft agreed to give up cloud streaming rights for all Activision Blizzard titles, handing them over to Ubisoft instead. As a result, no Activision Blizzard games, including Overwatch 2, are currently available on Xbox Cloud Gaming. The only exception right now is the Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy.

That said, you can still play Overwatch 2 on other cloud platforms like Nvidia GeForce Now and Boosteroid.

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How to link your Battle.net account to Xbox Game Pass

• Nevigate to the Battle.net Account Connections page.
• Next to Xbox Network, make sure the Xbox Account with your eligible Game Pass subscription is listed. 
• If no account is listed, click the +Connect button to initiate the linking process.
• Ensure you are linking the correct account; account links have cooldowns limiting how often they can be changed. Customer Support cannot assist with bypassing cooldowns on linking accounts. 
• If the wrong Xbox Account is listed and it has been more than 1-year since the accounts were linked: Click Disconnect, then click +Connect to initiate the linking process for the correct Xbox Account.
• If the wrong Xbox Account is listed and the link cooldown has not yet expired, you will need to use a new or different Battle.net Account to link to your Xbox Account. 

You'll need to do the above by November 11, 2024 to recieve all of the rewards.

Overwatch 2 also running World of Warcraft crossover

As reported a few days ago, there is also a World of Warcraft collaboration event running on September 17. There will be a Lich King skin for Reinhardt, Sylvanas for Windowmaker, Thrall for Zenyatta and Magni Bronzebeard for Torbjorn. You'll also be able to choose whether you represent each of WoW's main factions, Alliance or Horde. So there's a bunch of new content coming on the same day as the Xbox Game Pass addition!

What you need to know

• As teased earlier in the year, Overwatch 2's latest crossover is with another big Blizzard Entertainment title, World of Warcraft. 
• This crossover event includes a number of World of Warcraft-themed skins for Overwatch characters, including a Lich King skin for Reinhardt, a Sylvanas skin for Widowmaker, and more. 
• The Overwatch 2 x World of Warcraft crossover event kicks off on Sep. 17, 2024.

There's another big crossover headed to Blizzard Entertainment's free-to-play shooter, this time with another Blizzard game. 

Overwatch 2 is getting a big collaboration with World of Warcraft, as first teased back during Opening Night Live at Gamescom 2024. This crossover brings some themed skins for a few characters, including a Lich King skin for Reinhardt and a Sylvanas skin for Widowmaker. You can check out the trailer for the crossover below:

The Overwatch 2 x World of Warcraft collaboration kicks off on Sep. 17, 2024. This event joins a long list of big collaborations Overwatch 2 has held across the year, including with Cowboy Bebop and Transformers. Overwatch 2's player vs. player experience is continuing to grow, with a new support hero, a Martian named Juno, being added in the latest season.

Overwatch 2 is available as a free-to-play game across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers get extra in-game perks.

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Analysis: A fitting collaboration

This is a cool event that helps tie Overwatch 2 into the big 20th anniversary celebrations for World of Warcraft.  

While player counts waned for some years, World of Warcraft has endured as a pillar of gaming, and I've been really happy to see my friends and colleagues enjoying the The War Within, which seems to be off to a really strong start. As a big Reinhardt player, I definitely want that skin, though Sylvanas for Widowmaker is also extremely tempting. 

I will note that it's been amusing to watch the absolute barrage of crossovers that Overwatch 2 received this year. It's nowhere near the avalanche that Call of Duty has undergone, but even so, I'm curious if they've got anything else coming this year or if there'll be some breathing room now.

What you need to know

• Overwatch 2 Season 12: New Frontiers is bringing a new support hero named Juno. 
• There's also two new maps, a new Clash mode, and a bevy of skins themed after Egyptian mythology, including a Mythic Anubis Reaper Hero Skin. 
• Overwatch 2 is also getting new Xbox Game Pass benefits for any subscribers that make sure to link their accounts. 
• New Frontiers kicks off in Overwatch 2 on Aug. 20, 2024.

The Red Planet is sending its reinforcements to Overwatch. 

Overwatch Season 12: New Frontiers is on the way, with developer Blizzard Entertainment sharing an overview of everything players can expect on Wednesday. As previously announced, Season 12 is introducing Juno, a Support hero from Mars who uses a special blaster to heal her allies and damage her foes. 

Season 12 is also bringing some skins themed around Egyptian mythology, including the Mythic Anubis Reaper Hero Skin. There's also new maps to explore with the new Clash mode, which you can check out in the season's launch trailer below:

Overwatch 2 gets big Xbox Game Pass integration

Alongside the new hero, skins, and battle pass, Overwatch 2 is also getting more in-depth integration with Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft's gaming subscription service. Starting on September 17, any subscribers that link their Xbox accounts to their Battle.net accounts will get a one-time boost of 30 Mythic prisms and six skins. 

Cardboard Reinhardt, Turtleship D.Va, Cyberdragon Hanzo, Street Runner Genji, Bee Mercy, and Cleric Lifeweaver will all be yours at no extra cost as long as you link your accounts (or subscribe to Xbox Game Pass) by October 21. Other Xbox Game Pass perks will be coming in the future, Blizzard says, including select cosmetics from prior seasons. 

Overwatch 2 Season 12: New Frontiers is slated to begin on Aug. 20, 2024.

Overwatch 2 is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch as a free-to-play game. If you're a fan of team and class-based hero shooters, it's one of the best Xbox games and best PC games to play.

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After recently promising to do so on social media, Overwatch 2 developer Blizzard Entertainment has finally addressed the topic of bringing the game back to its original 6v6 format in a new Director's Take blog post posted on Thursday afternoon. Penned by game director Aaron Keller, the article goes over the benefits and drawbacks of both 5v5 and 6v6 in great detail, and confirms that the studio is "exploring how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results" starting in Season 13.

The post is extensive and warrants a full read, but the TL;DR is that while 6v6 had high highs with a stronger emphasis on teamplay, creative tank synergies, and less pressure on individual players, the removal of a tank from each team when Overwatch became Overwatch 2 was intended to foster more active and satisfying FPS gameplay, reduce the prevalence of and need for crowd control stun abilities, and improve Overwatch's infamous tank queue problem. Data shared by Blizzard shows that the overwhelming majority of players in the game matchmake as a damage or support hero, leading to lengthy queues as the system tries to find tanks for games.

Debates about whether Overwatch 2 should stay 5v5 or go back to 6v6 have raged for years now, but ultimately, I think there's a deeper problem here: regardless of the game's format, tank heroes largely haven't been fun to play for a long time, and that's something Blizzard hasn't been able to fix in years of patches and balance updates.

In the 6v6 era, tank duo combinations were incredibly strong — two tanks who properly layered their defensive cooldowns could make both themselves and their allies feel unkillable — but as evidenced by the queue time issues at the time, this didn't correlate to them actually being enjoyable. Excellent tank play could completely take over a match, but thanks to all the hard crowd control and debilitating effects that were in the game to counter it, the margin for error to make mistakes in felt almost non-existent. As a tank main, the pressure I felt to perform was crushing as a result, with even small errors often snowballing into being stunlocked and completely run over in the blink of an eye.

Overwatch 2's game-wide crowd control reduction and major buffs to tanks to compensate for the loss of one on each team had me hopeful it would adequately address this, but in my experience, that hasn't been the case. Being the only tank on your team means you're always on the receiving end of the stuns that still remain in the game, many of which aren't affected by the tank role's knockback-reducing passive. On top of that, the reworks given to tanks to make them more survivable generally don't feel like they're enough to balance out the fact you're now always the main target, outlier cases like early Overwatch 2 Orisa and current Mauga notwithstanding. That particular issue has only been exacerbated by the DPS role passive that reduces incoming healing to you by 10% as long as you're being actively damaged (it's reduced from the 20% that affects non-tanks, but still).

I've given a lot of thought about what Blizzard could do to make playing tank feel less stressful and high-pressure, but ultimately, I'm not really sure. Further increasing their resilience while toning down their offensive potency some seems like it could work, but then you risk tanks not being threatening enough to actually take space and demand the enemy team's attention. A different route would likely need to be explored if 6v6 returns to avoid Overwatch 1's original problems; perhaps in that context, the developers could lean into making tanks more resistant to crowd control so the effectiveness of tank synergies can be reduced without players feeling like they'll be instantly blown up if they make a single misplay. The recent reveal of the upcoming support hero Space Ranger Juno also has me wondering if something movement speed-related could help.

I don't envy Blizzard's position here, but it's also clear to me that regardless of whether Overwatch 2 goes back to 6v6 or stays 5v5, the frustrating nature of the tank role is something that will need significant and targeted changes. I'm not sure what those should be — I'm not a developer or designer, after all — but as a tank player, I probably won't be interested in the game again unless there's some progress made on this front.

One thing I am glad about, though, is that the studio is planning to test out different balancing ideas for Overwatch's core team compositions, with at least one Quick Play: Hacked playtest confirmed to be coming later this year. The game's format is an enormously complicated subject, and where tanks fit into it is undoubtedly something Blizzard will be looking into; with that in mind, I'm glad the community will have the opportunity to test solutions it cooks up and give plenty of feedback.

Overwatch 2 is currently available as a free-to-play game on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. If you're a fan of team and class-based hero shooters, it's one of the best Xbox games and best PC games to play.

What you need to know

• First teased back during BlizzCon 2023, Overwatch 2's 41st hero "Space Ranger" has been revealed as Juno, a new Martian support hero.
• Juno is a movement-themed healer that can glide around the battlefield and speed herself and her allies up as she heals and supports them with damage. Her abilities are covered in detail in the text below.
• Her place in the lore and story of Overwatch is a bit unclear right now, though there's speculation she's the daughter of Mei's friend Jiayi that she's mentioned in dialogue before.
• Juno is officially coming to Overwatch 2 for free when Season 12 starts on August 20, but thanks to a "hero trial," you can try her out this weekend from July 19-21.

Overwatch 2 developer Blizzard Entertainment first teased the game's 41st hero as "Space Ranger" way back during BlizzCon 2023, and thanks to a new reveal from the studio, we finally know her real name: Juno. She's a bouncy space cadet support character coming to the game for free when Season 12 goes live in August, but thanks to a hero trial, you'll be able to play her this weekend from July 19-21.

Juno will be available to pick in all game modes other than Overwatch 2's Competitive matchmaking, though in nearly all of them, the game's limit of one specific hero per team will still be enforced. It won't be in the No Limits arcade mode, though, so that'll be the best place to try her out if you don't want to compete with your fellow support players to see who can click her fastest.

We didn't get an in-depth look at all the nuances of Juno's kit in Blizzard's new gameplay trailer (watch it below), but an overview the developer shared after its release covers everything you need to know in detail. The basics of her abilities are her burst-fire primary Mediblaster weapon that heals teammates and damages enemies, along with secondary Pulsar Torpedoes that lock onto allies and foes, healing the former and harming the latter respectively.

Juno's passive is Martian Overboots, which allow the astronaut to double jump and then hover in the air a bit like one of Overwatch 2's flying heroes. This passive plays nicely with Glide Boost, an ability that lets her glide above and around the battlefield horizontally. I imagine it'll also have some neat air-strafe movement synergy with Hyper Ring, which creates a ring of energy that significantly increases the speed of Juno and any of her allies when moved through.

Finally, there's Juno's Ultimate, fittingly dubbed Orbital Ray — it literally causes some sort of spacecraft in orbit over Earth to shoot down a massive laser. This laser beam moves forward from where you call it in and simultaneously heals teammates while boosting their damage, though it doesn't seem to affect enemy players in any way.

As for Juno's place in the story? We don't know anything yet officially beyond the fact that she apparently came back from a trip to Mars, though as Polygon spotted last week, a "Space Ranger" called "J" landed in Overwatch 2's Dorado map. Many players assumed this referred to Mei's friend and grad school classmate Jiayi that she occasionally mentions in dialogue, but clearly it was actually Juno; notably, some believe that Juno is Jiayi's daughter.

We don't have clear answers yet, but I'm sure they'll come soon, as Blizzard typically releases hero backstory trailers soon after new characters are revealed with gameplay teasers like this one. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it drops alongside tomorrow's update that'll make Juno playable for the weekend.

Overall, with her bubbly attitude and movement-themed ability suite, Juno looks like quite a fun support hero to play. She definitely seems a bit simpler than many of Overwatch 2's other additions, but not every character needs to be complicated in order to be enjoyable or have depth.

Overwatch 2 Season 12 is scheduled to go live on August 20, at which point Juno will be added to the game officially. Currently, it's unclear if she'll be available in Competitive on day one or not; Season 10's new character Venture was, but every new Overwatch 2 hero before them didn't make it into Competitive until a few weeks after their release so that Blizzard had time to make necessary balance tweaks.

Overwatch 2 is currently available as a free-to-play game on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. If you're a fan of team and class-based hero shooters, it's one of the best Xbox games and best PC games to play.

What you need to know

• The previously-announced collaboration between Overwatch 2 and Transformers is now live. 
• Players can pick up bundles with special skins that transform Reinhardt into Optimus Prime, Ramattra into Megatron, and more. 
• Summer Games 2024 has also kicked off, with seasonal gameplay modes and skins to unlock until July 29, 2024.

There's more than meets the eye in the latest big crossover for Blizzard Entertainment's first-person shooter.

The previously-announced Overwatch 2 collaboration with Transformers is now live, bringing special themed skins, icons, and other cosmetics. The bundles allow players to deck out Reinhardt as Autobot leader Optimus Prime and Ramattra as Decepticon overlord Megatron. Rounding out the skins, Bastion and Illari can be suited up as Bumblebee and Arcee. 

"When developing the skin, I tried to integrate the sturdy, truck-like design that Optimus Prime is known for, such as the front windshield and the exhaust on the skin’s shoulders, to make him look more like a speeding truck when he charges," says Bobby Kim, Blizzard Korea Studio artist speaking with Xbox Wire. "I also tried using sharper, angular parts throughout the skin, which I think captured the iconic look of Optimus Prime."

Outside of the bundles that are available for purchase, players can also earn Transformers-inspired icons, name cards, and titles by playing during this special event.

In addition to Transformers, some sizzling seasonal activities return, with Summer Games 2024 also kicking off in Overwatch 2. This regularly-scheduled event brings new gameplay modes for players to check out, such as Lucio Ball and Winston’s Beach Volleyball. Naturally, there's a bunch of swimsuit-themed skins for players to earn or buy during the Summer Games, which are slated to run through July 29, 2024. 

That's not quite the end of the summer fun though, as the new Lifeguard collection of skins is launching on July 30, including new outfits that show some skin for Lifeweaver, Kiriko, Mercy, and...Roadhog. For players picking up the Premium Battle Pass, Lucio and Junkrat also get in on the beach rescue action.

Analysis: Bringing summer heat

Transformers is a really awesome collaboration, and the art team at Blizzard Entertainment did an amazing job on these skins, making them seem authentic and easy to read without appearing too complicated for the game's overall art direction. The Optimus Prime skin is definitely the standout of the bundle for me, but the others are great too. I do wish we'd gotten at least one more Decepticon in the bunch, but overall it's still a solid mix of iconic characters. 

Between the Transformers event and the seasonal Summer Games, this is definitely a great time to hop into Overwatch 2. I'll definitely be working on earning some of these skins in the coming days.

Overwatch 2 is currently available as a free-to-play game on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4.

What you need to know

• Gunnar Optiks is a eyewear company with a focus on glasses that protect from computer vision syndrome. 
• Recently, the company partnered with Blizzard to release officially licensed Overwatch D.Va Tokki Edition gaming glasses. 
• These glasses are blue and pink with either amber or clear lenses and come in a cat-eye design with metal D.Va bunny symbols on either side.
• They are also anti-reflective, smudge-resistant, and are designed to protect your eyes against blue light and UV rays. 
• The Overwatch D.Va Tokki Edition gaming glasses sell for $125.00 at Gunnar. 

Lately, the protective eyeware company, Gunnar Optiks, has been partnering with various companies to bring consumer some really cool themed glasses. The latest to get this treatment is Blizzard which partnered with Gunnar to bring us officially licensed Overwatch D.Va Tokki Edition gaming glasses. This eyeware protects against blue light, is smudge-resistant, and anti-reflective making them the perfect wearable for when you're staring at a computer or TV screen for long periods of time. 

You can purchase the Overwatch D.Va Tokki Edition gaming glasses for $125.00 at Gunnar. The company labels these glasses as Legendary, which means they offer the best optical technology offered by the Gunnar Optiks.

Keeping in line with D.Va's character design, these Gunnar glasses prominently feature a gentle transparent blue to pink color scheme on a cat-eye frame design. Cute little D.Va bunny icons made out of metal highlight the corners of the frame for a fun effect. Meanwhile, the temples are white and feature a pink bunny symbol on the inside along with the stylized "D.Va" text on the outside. Altogether, these color choices and designs work together to make a very appealing set of glasses. 

In addition to the glasses themselves, users also get a blue case with the pink D.Va bunny symbol on it, a microfiber pouch that also features the bunny icon, a microfiber cleaning cloth with Overwatch icons on it, and a 24-month warranty. 

Since Gunnar specializes in protective eyeware, it's no surprise that the collectible Overwatch D.VA Tokki Edition gaming glasses block 100% UV rays as well as harmful blue light that comes from screens. So, if you ever experience computer vision syndrome, headaches, or strained eyes after staring at a monitor or TV then these can help with that. As such, this makes Gunnar glasses the ideal gear for gamers to wear or for folks that tend to sit in front of screens for long stretches. These glasses also come with G-Shield, which is the company's lens coating method that creates anti-reflective and smudge-resistant lenses. That way, you'll get the best wearing experience possible.

You get to choose between having amber lenses or clear ones. Additionally, these glasses can either come with GUNNAR-Focus lenses or you can order prescription ones to match your needs. For those who don't already know, GUNNAR-Focus is the company's patented lens technology that Gunnar says "aids natural focusing and reduces stress and strain on your eyes" specifically with "issues associated with prolonged computer use."

If you are a fan of Overwatch or simply love the look of these glasses then they can serve you well during gaming sessions or during long work hours spent in front of a computer screen. Of course, if you like the idea of these Gunnar glasses, but don't like this specific design, you might also be interested in checking out the wooden Groot glasses from Guardians of the Galaxy or these sweet Fallout 33 glasses that perfectly match the aesthetic of the games and recent Amazon Prime show.

What you need to know 

• Blizzard Entertainment has announced the launch date for Overwatch 2, Season 11 along with a trailer showcasing the wide range of new content it will bring.
• The season titled "Super Mega Ultrawatch" will feature new cosmetic skins to grab, a new map, the return of the Pink Mercy skin, Hero Mastery missions for Kiriko and Soldier 76, new and returning game modes, and a collaboration event with the Transformers franchise.
• Season 11 of Overwatch 2 is scheduled to begin on June 20, 2024.

On June 17, 2024, Blizzard Entertainment showed off a new trailer for Overwatch 2's 11th season titled "Super Mega Ultrawatch" along with the announcement that it will commence on June 20, 2024.

This season will be themed around reimaging various Overwatch heroes as villains and superheroes inspired by the iconic 1990s superhero show, Power Rangers, and will feature a plethora of new skins, game modes, balance changes for Heroes, and more throughout the season.

Here's everything you need to know in this upcoming season of Overwatch 2.

New and returning cosmetic skins

To start things off, Ashe will be getting a new supervillainess Mythic skin called Calamity Ashe, complete with new visual effects for her abilities and Ultimate. You can unlock Calamity by collecting 50 Mythic Prisms (the game's new in-game currency introduced in Season 10), and use any remaining Prisms to customize the skin with three additional configurations.

Ashe isn't the only one to get a new skin as there will be several new Legendary skins for Reaper, Roadhog, Zenyatta, Genji, Ana, Wrecking Ball, Cassidy, Sojourn, and more.

There will also be a new type of weapon skin coming in Season 11 called Mythic Weapon Skins. These cosmetic weapons can be equipped with any matching hero and will give their attacks visual effects and sounds. You can unlock Mythic Weapon Skins by purchasing the base skin with 50 Mythic Prisms then unlock additional levels with 10 Mythic Prisms to upgrade it with a Weapon Flourish emote, elimination visual effects and reactive effects.

The first of the Mythic Weapon skins will be the Mythic Bound Demon Reinhardt weapon skin and it will be available on July 23, 2023. 

Season 11 will a bring new Premium Battle Pass where players can unlock the Ultrawatch skins for Genji, Reaper, and Sojourn, an additional Lifeguard skin for Lucio, and other rewards like sprays and skins.

If players purchase the Ultimate Battle Pass bundle, they will be able to obtain the base battle pass' content along with 20 Tier skips, 2000 Overwatch Coins, and the new Kaiju Roadhog and Kaiju Zenyatta Legendary Skins.

To celebrate Overwatch 2 reaching 100 million concurrent players, Blizzard Entertainment is bringing the coveted Pink Mercy skin along with a new Rose Gold Mercy skin in a bundle. All proceeds made from purchasing these skins will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (do note these exclude applicable platform fees and taxes. The new Mercy skins will be available for purchase on June 25, 2024.

Event and weekly challenges

To aid players in their progress in completing the Season 11 Battle Pass, Season 11 will implement various event challenges that will reward players 40,000 Battle Pass XP. In addition, if players up to 40 games with these event challenges, they will be able to obtain the Aztec Sombra bundle which contains an Epic skin for Sombra, a name card, and a spray.

Season 11 will also rework weekly challenges so it will be easier for players to complete them. If a player misses a week, they can catch up on complete that week's challenges before moving to the current week's challenges. In addition, completing 3 weekly challenges will instantly net you 20,000 XP and each week will offer new milestone rewards. 

Twitch Drops Campaign cosmetics

Starting on June 20, 2024, Overwatch 2 will host Twitch Drops campaigns where players can obtain fan-made cosmetics by watching various Overwatch 2-focused Twitch streamers.

From June 20, 2024, to June 24, 2024, players can grab the Letter on the Wind spray for Kiriko (which was hand-drawn by the community artist Angela Ziegler [@A2Ziegler]) by tuning in for three hours, and obtain the Nihan Hanzo Epic Skin by watching Twitch for 7 hours.

Then from June 20 to June 24, players can obtain the Cute Rose Gold Mercy icon (which was drawn by community artist Dani Ellis [@OWGrandma]) by watching Twitch for 3 hours and have a second chance to grab the Letter on the Wind spray and the Nihon Hanzo Epic Skin if they missed out on the previous campaign.

Do note that watch time and progress after the first campaign ends will be reset.

The new Runasapi map

Season 11 will introduce a new Push map called Runasapi set in a town secluded in the Peruvian Andes mountains. Players will need to keep a close eye out for enemy ambushes as they escort the TS-1 payload to the finish line as this map will contain many tight streets to navigate through and steep cliffs perfect for snipers to position themselves at.

This map will be available to play on June 20, 2024, and be featured in Quick and Competitive game modes.

In addition, the layout of the Colosseo map will be reworked in Season 11.

New and returning Game Modes

When Season 11 launches on June 20, 2024, it will bring back the Community Crafted mode in the arcade. In this mode, Overwatch 2 content creators will rebalance the Heroes of Overwatch with all kinds of hitscans tweaks, new tricks, and many more surprises that will completely alter their playstyles for a new experience.

On July 15, 2025, there will be a new game mode for Quickplay called Hacked. In this mode, players will be able to choose new passive abilities for their heroes based on their role and even upgrade them to gain an edge in battle.

New Hero Mastery missions

Season 11 will host new single-player Hero Mastery missions for Kiriko and Soldier 76. Players who complete the missions will earn a bunch of rewards including 22,500 Battle Pass XP.

These Hero Mastery Missions will last from June 20, 2024, to July 9, 2024.

Overwatch X Transformers & Summer Games 2024

By far the most shocking announcement is that on July 9, 2024, Overwatch 2 will be hosting a crossover event in collaboration with the Transformers franchise. Details on this crossover are currently a mystery but judging from Overwatch 2's previous collaborations with One Punch Man and Cowboy Bebop, it will likely involve giving the Overwatch characters Transformer-themed skins.

In addition, Overwatch 2's Summers Games 2024 seasonal event will be begin on July 9, 2024 where players can take part in sports-themed game modes to earn Lifeguard skins for various Overwatch heroes.

The nostalgia is too tempting for me to ignore in this season of Overwatch 2

Personally speaking, I decided to move on Blizzard's long-running hero shooter after many years of playing as I eventually got tired of it despite how fun it is slicing enemies with Genji or blasting them in the face as Reaper. However, this latest season of Overwatch 2 which is combining both Power Rangers and Transformers might just entice me to come out of retirement.

I loved watching Power Rangers growing up as a kid so seeing the heroes of Overwatch dress up in Power Rangers-inspired attire and Ashe donning a Mythic skin that's a direct homage to Power Rangers' iconic villain Rita Repulsa, is ticking my nostalgia funny bones. Not to mention this is oddly good timing considering the resurgence of Power Rangers in videogames with recent announcements of the Ark Survival x Power Rangers collaboration and the new Mighty Morphin Power Rangers game announced at Summer Game Fest.

As for the Transformers collaboration, I'm even more hyped for that because I spent almost my entire childhood watching every episode of the original 1980s Transformers cartoon, the 1990s sequel series Beast Wars, and convincing my parents to buy any Transformers we could find. I can just imagine what kind of skins they might come for this event – like an Optimus Prime skin for Reinhardt or a Starscream skin for Pharah. 

Fortunately, we won't have to wait to find out as the next season for one of Blizzard Entertainment's best Xbox games begins on June 20, 2024.

What you need to know

• BlizzCon is Blizzard's famed convention event, typically annualized and held at the Anaheim Convention Center in the United States. 
• Since 2005, BlizzCon has served as the primary platform for sharing major World of Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch news. 
• This year, Blizzard has revealed that BlizzCon will skip 2024 in favor of multiple global events instead. 
• BlizzCon is not cancelled, however, and will return in the usual format in the future.
• UPDATE: Blizzard confirms this decision was made internally at Blizzard, not higher up at Microsoft. 

Update, 2:35 p.m. ET:

Blizzard Entertainment confirms to Windows Central that the decision to skip BlizzCon in 2024 was made by Blizzard and not from higher up at Microsoft. When this news initially broke, some speculation on social media questioned where the decision came from. 

"This is a Blizzard decision. We have explored different event formats in the past and this isn't the first time we're skipping BlizzCon or trying something new. While we have great things to share in 2024, the timing just doesn’t line up for one single event at the end of the year," a Blizzard spokesperson tells Windows Central.

"Instead, we want to focus on highlighting individual games and their moments - Warcraft’s multiple anniversaries, the upcoming releases of World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo IV’s first expansion, Vessel of Hatred in particular."

Original story: 

Since 2005, BlizzCon has served as Blizzard's primary platform for announcing major game news to the world, while celebrating its core franchises with fans. From cosplay contests, original music, live bands, esports tournaments, and much more — Blizzcon is the highlight of the year for fans of World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Overwatch, and Diablo. Typically, major news around these pillar Blizzard franchises gets revealed at Blizzcon, but Blizzard is doing things a little differently this year. 

Announced in a blog post on Blizzard's website, the firm revealed that this year, Blizzcon will skip the usual in-person format in Anaheim, and will instead bring Blizzard news to other gaming events throughout the year. Blizzard also emphasized that BlizzCon is not permanently cancelled, and will return to Anaheim in the future. 

"After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years. 

Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing more details about our launches coming later this year, including World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo IV's first expansion, Vessel of Hatred. To celebrate these upcoming releases and to bring our communities together in new and special ways, we will soon share some exciting plans for other industry trade shows and conventions like Gamescom. We can’t wait to tell you more about those plans soon."

Blizzard also noted upcoming esports events such as the Overwatch Champion Series, while emphasizing the fact Warcraft as a franchise is celebrating its 30th anniversary, with World of Warcraft celebrating its 20th. 

BlizzCon will return

Reading between the lines, it could be that Blizzard brings its content to events like Summer Games Fest and the Xbox Showcase in June 2024, in addition to the mentioned Gamescom in August 2024. It could also be that development timelines won't line up super great for BlizzCon this year in terms of big announcements. Blizzcon has typically taken place in November, and with World of Warcraft: The War Within and Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred both likely launched by then, there might not be enough major announcements prepared to make a 2024 singular blow-out news event worth while. That doesn't mean there's nothing in the oven, though. 

Blizzard just posted a set of new vacancies on its website, seeking high-up positions for a completely new, unknown game. Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has also frequently teased his desire to see StarCraft return in some form, and given that Microsoft now owns Blizzard as part of the Activision acquisition, perhaps it increases the likelihood of this iconic sci-fi franchise being revisited. World of Warcraft already has not one, but two upcoming expansions announced for after The War Within, and Diablo 4 is doubtless going to get more story expansions too down the line. Blizzard also just resumed services in China in partnership with NetEase, which should bring a sizeable cash injection back into the brand. 

Either way, I'm glad Blizzard confirmed that the event will return some day, especially since, selfishly, it's still in my bucket list to attend. Revealing a new StarCraft would definitely be worth holding a major BlizzCon event for ... we can only hope! 

What you need to know

• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can benefit from additional Perks, which often include game add-ons or free trials for YouTube Premium and Discord Nitro.
• A new perk has been added for Overwatch 2 that includes 2 legendary skins and 1 epic skin for free.
• The Overwatch 2 Season 10 perk must be claimed before June 19, and the code must be redeemed before June 26.

Looking to dig into Season 10 of Overwatch 2, but don't want to be left out when all your teammates are showing off their favorite character skins? Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers need not worry. Three Overwatch 2 character skins have been added to the Perk section of the Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass app. The perk includes two legendary skins and one epic skin at no extra cost. 

The Xbox Game Pass perk includes the Visual K Kiriko epic skin, the Medusa Widowmaker legendary skin, and the Executioner Junker Queen legendary skin. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can claim the three skins for free using the PC Game Pass app, the Xbox Game Pass mobile app, or by visiting the Xbox Game Pass perks tab on the Xbox dashboard. The free skins will only be available to claim until June 16. Claiming the perk will net you a code that can be redeemed on Xbox or in the Xbox apps on mobile and PC. The code must be redeemed by June 29, or they will expire.

Despite its rocky launch, canceled PvE, and Overwhelmingly Negative reviews on Steam, Overwatch 2 remains a popular hero shooter. The game has undergone significant reworkings following launch, with Season 10 ushering in the end of paid heroes, as well as improved detection and removal of third-party cheating hardware.  

Microsoft acquired Overwatch 2 publisher Blizzard as part of its Xbox and Activision Blizzard King merger. Investigations by regulatory bodies slowed Microsoft's efforts to add the Activision Blizzard King game catalog to Xbox Game Pass. Overwatch 2 is free-to-play on all platforms, so providing skins previously limited as microtransactions to subscribers may continue to be an alternative solution to providing benefits to Blizzard fans who subscribe to Game Pass. 

What you need to know

• Blizzard senior game producer Adam Messey and lead gameplay engineer Daniel Razza took over the weekly Director's Take to address issues surrounding players using third-party, unapproved peripherals in Overwatch 2.
• The studio has been working on unapproved peripheral detection methods by monitoring gameplay closely for the last several seasons. It has been determined there is "highly apparent" usage of cheat peripherals in Grand Master and Champion rank competitive modes. 
• New methods of cheat mitigation will be introduced with Season 11 to detect and deter players using unapproved peripherals. 
• Special attention is being paid to prevent bans and mitigations from being handed out to the members of the community with specialized accessibility needs that are met with the aid of peripherals. 

If you've been using a Cronus Zen or other unapproved peripheral to modify your gaming experience in Overwatch 2, consider this your heads up to disconnect it before you incur a permanent account ban. This week's Director's Take from Blizzard featured commentary for Overwatch 2's senior game producer, Adam Messey, and lead gameplay engineer, Daniel Razza, who took the opportunity to share information on the studio's cheat mitigation efforts. 

Those efforts include months of hardware detection data to pinpoint when and where cheat hardware was rampant, and will be followed up with waves of bans for the users with a history of proven abuse in Overwatch 2.

Unapproved peripherals on console

Blizzard's enforcement team has spent the last few seasons of the game closely monitoring player habits. In doing so, it has uncovered an alarming number of players using devices like the Cronus Zen and other hardware deemed "unapproved peripherals" to gain an advantage in competitive gameplay. 

While Overwatch 2 on console does not currently support mouse and keyboard input, players have used these unapproved peripherals to trick the console into thinking gaming mice and keyboards are controllers. This trick allows the player to take advantage of input-specific features geared for controllers, like aim assist, while still having all the precision and aiming power of a mouse. Blizzard's data detected that high-ranked players, mostly at Grand Master or Champion levels of play, were the most prone to using these cheat tools, while those in Bronze and Platinum ranks were much rarer. 

Blizzard's leadership stopped short of describing the methods used to collect player data and peripheral usage, in an effort to prevent manufacturers from finding new ways to circumvent detection efforts. The enforcement team must also grapple with the needs of the accessibility community, who may utilize third-party peripherals to make gameplay possible. According to Blizzard, special considerations for players with accessibility needs have been made with regard to unapproved peripherals. These particular controller setups are less likely to trigger enforcement, but there is still the potential for error, which led to Blizzard adjusting its plans for punitive actions.

Cheat mitigation and the future of Overwatch 2

Of course, the knowledge that there are players using cheat tactics in a competitive multiplayer title feels like a given in this day and age. The question becomes, "What is Blizzard going to do about it?" Most of the enforcement plans are slated to start with Season 11, however, waves of bans for the most egregious cheaters will begin taking place immediately. The first waves will mostly affect high-ranked players, which will inevitably be followed up by players posting on social media asking why they're banned. 

Once Season 11 begins, when players are caught using cheat tools on console, they will start to see week-long suspensions from competitive playlists. To return to competitive at the end of the suspension, the player must remove the unapproved peripheral from their console setup. Those who choose to keep their cheats intact will continue to be restricted from Competitive modes.

That doesn't mean it's a-okay for unapproved peripherals in Quick Play, however. As players are using these third-party devices to play with unsupported inputs, Blizzard sees fit to restrict those determined to be cheating's access to controller support mechanics, like aim-assist. It will also lump those peripheral-using console players in with the PC pool of mouse-and-keyboard players to further level the playing field.

TeamRICOCHET vs Blizzard anti-cheat mitigation

Blizzard's approach to anti-cheat mitigation is a more direct means of enforcement than what we see from fellow enforcement TeamRICOCHET behind the first-person shooter franchise, Call of Duty. Like Overwatch, Call of Duty has a massive competitive player base. The free-to-play Call of Duty: Warzone and premium paid Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer experience have also been plagued with various cheats, software hacks, and third-party peripherals. 

Activision's TeamRICOCHET, however, has opted to play cat-and-mouse with Call of Duty's cheaters. Each season, new mitigation efforts are deployed to keep known cheaters in the game, giving TeamRICOCHET a chance to drill into those players' data and develop new detection methods. In the past, TeamRICOCHET has deployed mechanics like SPLAT!, which removed a player's parachute and turned every bunny hop into a 10,000-foot free fall. Other methods such as invincibility cloaking, damage nerfs to cheaters, and even player holograms have all made their way to Warzone and COD multiplayer.

TeamRICOCHET does also take advantage of ban waves as Blizzard is planning to do during Overwatch 2's Season 10, having banned more than 70,000 confirmed cheaters following the launch of Modern Warfare 3's third season. However, Blizzard's more direct enforcement efforts are likely to have a more pressing and noticeable effect on the actual feel of gameplay during competitive matches as cheaters are actively removed—an issue Call of Duty's competitive community continues to grapple with despite mitigations.

What you need to know

• Blizzard Entertainment has announced Overwatch 2's 10th Season, 'Venture Forth,' along with a roadmap showing the content it will bring.
• This roadmap reveals that Season 10 will add a new Damage Hero called Venture, a Mirror Universe-themed Battlepass and event, the return of Mythic skins from previous seasons, a trial for a new game mode called Clash, and more.
• Overwatch 2 Season 10: Venture Forth will launch on April 16, 2024, on all platforms, including Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Windows and Steam.

Blizzard Entertainment has recently uploaded a new trailer and roadmap for Overwatch 2's 10th Season titled 'Venture Forth' onto the internet. The roadmap reveals that Season 10 will launch on April 16, 2024, and will implement a tidal wave of new gameplay content to Overwatch 2 throughout April, May, and potentially beyond.

The first stop on this roadmap is April 16, 2024, when the Season will launch, and the new Damage Hero, Venture, will be added to the game and unlocked for everyone to enjoy. 

On the same day as Venture's debut, Overwatch 2 will hold a trial for a new game mode called Clash. In Clash, there are five capture points in a row, with the central unlocked at the beginning of the round. Two teams of five players must capture and control all five points or reach a round's score limit to win a round.

The next stop is April 23, 2024, when a limited-time Event and Battlepass will be introduced to the Mirrorwatch game. This Event's theme is about reversing the characteristics of Overwatch's heroes and villains, so we get heroic versions of Doomfist, Widowmaker, and Sombra and villainous versions of Tracer, Mercy, and Brigitte, for example.

These alternate-universe takes on the characters won't just be limited to new skins to collect. The Mirrorwatch Event will reimagine their abilities to fit their new personas.

Overwatch 2 Season 10: Venture Forth will also include the return of the Pride, the ability for players to unlock new or old Mythic skins from previous Seasons and events, a rework of the Hero Wrecking Ball, and the upcoming collaboration with Porsche.  

On a side note, the Overwatch Championship Series shall begin on May 31, 2024. They will be held at the DreamHack Dallas Major, Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas, 650 S Griffin St, Dallas, TX 75202, United States. It will last until June 2, 2024, and will be a double-elimination tournament featuring eight of the world's best Overwatch player teams.

Are you ready to 'Venture' into the 10th season of Overwatch 2?

Between the new hero Venture, the Mirrorwatch event, where we'll get to play as reversed versions of classic heroes, and the new Clash game mode, Spring will be an exciting time for one of Blizzard Entertainment's best Xbox and PC games. And that's without mentioning Blizzard's commitment to making all of Overwatch 2's heroes free for everyone to play when Season 10 commences.

However, what kind of reworks are in store for Wrecking Ball, and what can we expect from Overwatch's unexpected collaboration with Porsche? We must wait to find out when Overwatch 2 Season 10: Venture Forth launches on April 16, 2024.

What you need to know

• Blizzard Entertainment has released patch notes for the April Fools' Day update to Overwatch 2, detailing balance changes in a limited-time game mode called "Balanced Overwatch." You'll find the patch notes in the section at the bottom of this article.
• The mode makes dramatic and sweeping changes to Overwatch's heroes, including comical ability reworks, wild damage buffs and nerfs, and even tweaks that make some characters much bigger or smaller than they are normally.
• The Balanced Overwatch event features some special challenges as well, and completing them will reward players with special sprays made from Blizzard developer doodles.
• Balanced Overwatch will only be available from now until April 8, so if you want to experience the wacky mode and earn those silly sprays, make sure you do so before then.

With every new patch, game developers are often scrambling to find a comfortable middle ground between their vision for a game and the requests from players to make nerfs or buffs. For April Fools' Day, though, Overwatch 2 developer Blizzard Entertainment has gone above and beyond the usual googly eyes gag by giving players what they've wanted all along with a limited-time mode called "Balanced Overwatch." It's available to play now in the Arcade and lasts until April 8, and by completing special challenges in it, players can earn some unique new sprays made out of developer doodles.

The patch notes for the mode — all of which are included in the section at the bottom of this article — detail massive gameplay changes to hero abilities, health, damage, and more, and just may leave players a little more cautious about what they ask for in the future.

The patch notes for this "really, really, really balanced" balanced edition of Overwatch include tons of wild changes for every hero. D.Va, for example, now has a 900% increase to the knockback of her Self-Destruct Ultimate in addition to being able to boost backwards. Oh, and if a player can pull off canceling the boosters with a crouch within .4 seconds, the cooldown on boosters is reduced to just 1.5 seconds. Some other notable tank hero changes include giving Reinhardt the ability to deflect projectiles with Rocket Hammer swings, making Orisa's Energy Javelin ricochet and explode, and shrinking Mauga's size by a whopping 50%.

Cassidy, meanwhile, gets a bump in the survivability department with a new Wanted passive that marks a single enemy on the opposing team. Once that enemy is killed, Cassidy earns an extra 50 health points until his next death. That seems balanced! Mei gets in on the new ability action, too, but the developers kindly ask that you don't use her new ability to reach areas of the map that you're totally not supposed to get to. Jumping in the air activates Avalanche Launch, which creates a pillar of ice under Mei.

The fun isn't just for tank and damage heroes, though. Mercy mains can say goodbye to those goose eggs in the damage stat, because Damage Boost has been removed and replaced, instead, with a Damage Staff that fires Caduceus Blaster projectiles. These do 2 extra damage, get bigger during Mercy's Valkyrie Ultimate, and even reload automatically and at twice the speed while she's healing. Now that's balance! Moira's also getting in on the damage buff action, with the primary Biotic Grasp dealing damage and the secondary doing the healing, now. What could go wrong? Oh, and Brigitte is now Bigitte; you'll see what we mean when you play.

Overwatch 2 April Fools' Day patch notes

Below, we've listed all of the very balanced and totally not absurd patch notes for "Balanced Overwatch," complete with all the developer comments straight from the horse's mouth. You'll also find them on Blizzard's official patch notes page.

Patch Update

We are currently aware of an issue that these balance changes are only reflected in a game mode that appears in the arcade. So we’re gonna call it “Balanced Overwatch” for now. Sorry for any confusion. There are also some new challenges that are granting some of our developer’s doodles as sprays. We’re not sure why that is happening, but they are really cool looking. You might want to collect them as quickly as possible because this is planned to be fixed by April 8.

Hero Updates

Developer Comments: Due to technical difficulties, a significant portion of the balance tweaks we intended to include in the S9 Competitive update were left out. To remedy this, we are releasing them now. We understand that players will want to try all these exciting changes, so we have made it easier than ever to switch heroes mid-game.

GENERAL UPDATES

• Maximum ultimate charge preserved on hero swap increased from 15 to 49%.

TANK

D.VA

Developer Comments: Mech go zoom and D.Va bomb go boom.

• Boosters
  • Can now move backwards.
  • Can now be canceled with Crouch.
  • Canceling the ability with Crouch in the first .4 seconds reduces the cooldown to 1.5 seconds.
• Self-Destruct
  • Knockback increased by 900%.

DOOMFIST

Developer Comments: Doomfist is a mobility hero, so there’s no reason he should be slowing down while blocking right?

• Power Block
  • Movement Speed Modifier increased from .65x to 1.25x.

JUNKER QUEEN

Developer Comments: Leave it to Junker Queen to cut her way toward new heights.

• Jagged Blade
  • Pressing Secondary Fire while the ability is active now magnetizes Junker Queen to Gracie.
  • Cooldown now starts when blade starts returning to Junker Queen.
  • Cooldown decreased from 6 to 4 seconds.

MAUGA

Developer Comments: Smallga

• Health decreased from 350 to 25.
• Mauga’s Scale has been reduced by 50%.
• Incendiary Chain Gun
  • Hitting enemies who are ‘On Fire’ will Ignite them.

ORISA

Developer Comments: Efi has made some changes to Orisa’s technology inspired by a completely hypothetical scenario where a certain archer rides her into battle.

• Energy Javelin
  • Ricochets once.
  • Explodes when it sticks.

RAMATTRA

Developer Comments: We heard Ramattra wasn’t suffering enough so we’ve increased his suffering so that when he causes suffering his enemies will suffer as much as he has suffered.

• Base armor increased from 100 to 225.
• Annihilation
  • Moved from his Ultimate to Ability 1
  • No longer pauses its duration while dealing damage.
  • Movement Speed Increased by 20%.
  • Duration increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
  • Damage Per Second Decreased from 30 to 20.
  • Radius decreased from 12 to 9 meters.
• Nemesis Form
  • Moved from his Ability 1 to his Ultimate.
  • Always has Annihilation active while in use.
  • Fully heals Ramattra on use.
  • Pummel Damage increased from 60 to 75.
  • Pummel Range has been increased from 10 to 15.

REINHARDT

Reinhardt Comment: HAHA! THIS IS JUST LIKE PING PONG! WATCH THIS, BRIGITTE! I WILL BE ENTERING THE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR!

• Barrier Field
  • You can now press Primary Fire to reflects projectiles.
  • Health decreases by 20% every second while reflecting.
  • Barrier size decreased to 50% while Reflecting.
  • Camera Lock input now bound to Quick Melee.

ROADHOG

Developer Comments: Much to the chagrin of his enemies, Roadhog has recently discovered baseball.

• Pig Pen
  • Projectile Speed increased from 26 to 80.
  • Projectile Damage increased from 0 to 40.

SIGMA

Developer Comments: Danger! Falling rocks.

• Accretion
  • Projectile Speed decreased from 37 to 30.
  • Projectile Gravity decreased from 18 to 2.
  • Pressing the ability button while Accretion is active will cause the rock to crash into the ground. When crashed, it will deal 50 damage in a 4-meter radius and stun anyone damaged.

WINSTON

Developer Comments: Empowering the “no aim” playstyle.

• Tesla Cannon
  • Secondary Fire now chains between enemies.
• Primal Rage
  • Punches also cause lightning to chain between enemies.

WRECKING BALL

Developer Comments: We're preparing to retcon Wrecking Ball into a crab. Hope these changes are sufficiently immersive.

• Wrecking Ball’s sideways movement speed increased by 55%.
• Quad Cannons
  • Deals increased damage as you continue to walk sideways.

ZARYA

Developer Comments: Please don’t burst Zarya’s bubble, no matter how big it gets.

• Particle Barrier and Projected Barrier
  • Increases the size of the bubbled target by 1.75x.

DAMAGE

ASHE

Developer Comments: B.O.B.’s upset from being called the wrong name, so F.R.E.D.’s picking up the slack.

• F.R.E.D.
  • New Ability on mouse scroll.
  • Weapon Swap.
  • Call in F.R.E.D. to charge for a short duration before leaving.

BASTION

Developer Comments: Yeah, we’ve switched up his configurations a little. So anyway, start blastin'.

• Configuration: Assault
  • Configuration: Assault is now the default form.
  • Movement speed penalty has been removed.
  • Configuration: Assault now has 150 Ammo.
  • Damage per bullet decreased from 12 to 5.
  • Now deals 1.5x damage for critical hits.
• Reconfigure
  • Now transforms Bastion into Configuration: Recon.
  • Grants a movement speed bonus of 35%.
  • Configuration: Sentry now fires shotgun blasts.

CASSIDY

Developer Comments: Extra survivability is every cowboy’s dream – just don’t die.

• Wanted!
  • New Passive
  • One enemy is marked. Kill them to gain 50 health until the next time you die. After 5 kills, you gain 1 health each time.

ECHO

Developer Comments: Now bringing Mystery Heroes into other modes.

• Focusing Beam
  • Targets within 8 meters of Echo take damage as if they’re under half health.
• Duplicate
  • Can no longer choose who you duplicate.
  • Can now duplicate allies.
  • Duplicate’s Health no longer capped at 300 health.
  • Duplicate now gains an extra 100 Shields.
  • Bonus Ult Charge Gain Rate increased from 4 to 6.5.

GENJI

Developer Comments: Parry this! *Not exclusive to casual players.

• Deflect
  • Press Primary Fire with perfect timing to critically deflect a projectile.

HANZO

Developer Comments: Hanzo has always struggled to overcome his past, so it’s hard for him not to bounce back to old habits.

• Storm Arrows
  • Number of ricochets increased from 1 to 3.
  • Number of projectiles per shot increased from 1 to 5.
  • Damage of each projectile decreased by 78%.

JUNKRAT

Developer Comments: Junkrat put bombs on his bombs. Not sure why this would surprise anybody.

• Frag Launcher
  • You can now detonate Frag Launcher projectiles with Secondary Fire.

MEI

Developer Request: Definitely do not use this to get to spots on the map you’re not supposed to get to, thanks.

• Avalanche Launch
  • New Ability.
  • Press Jump in the Air to activate.
  • Creates a large Ice Pillar under Mei.
  • Can be canceled with Interact.

PHARAH

Developer Comments: You’ve used Hover Jets. You’ve used Jump Jets. You’ve used Jet Dash. But have you tried Jet Land?

• Jet Land
  • New Ability.
  • Press Crouch in the Air to activate.
  • Dash downwards towards the ground.

REAPER

Developer Comments: Someone’s taken a page out of Mauga’s book.

• Primary Fire now only shoots one shotgun.
• Damage per bullet reduced from 5.4 to 2.8.
• Ammo increased from 8 to 16.
• Secondary Fire now shoots the other shotgun.

SOJOURN

Developer Comments: Vivian Chase? More like Vivian Pull.

• Disruptor Shot
  • Disruptor Shot now pulls enemies in on deploy.
  • You can deploy Disruptor Shot early by pressing E again.

SOLDIER: 76

Developer Comments: Run and gun? Sounds like fun!

• Heavy Pulse Rifle
  • Can now be used during Sprint.
  • Using Heavy Pulse Rifle while sprinting has a spread of 2.

SOMBRA

Developer Comments: To keep fights fair, let the enemy team know that they should update their network anti-virus and firewalls as soon as possible.

• Virus
  • Killing an enemy infected with Virus, it attempts to spread to a nearby enemy.

SYMMETRA

Developer Comments: Symmetra can’t troll you if you don’t press Teleport.

• Teleporter
  • Only places exit Teleporter.
  • Any ally can use Teleporter regardless of their location.
  • Teleporter duration decreased from 10 to 4 seconds.

TORBJÖRN

Developer Comments: Everyone deserves a pet turret.

• Deploy Turret
  • The turret now sticks to walls, ceilings, and allies.

TRACER

Developer Comments: krow slotsiP esluP ruoy woh gnignahc ,erutuf ro tsap eht ot uoy sdnes ylmodnaR

• Recall
  • Randomly sends you to the past or future, changing how your Pulse Pistols work.

WIDOWMAKER

Developer Comments: Hooks + Headshot = Parkour

• Grappling Hook
  • Now has 3 charges.
  • Getting a critical hit with Widow’s Kiss’s secondary fire replenishes one charge of the ability.

SUPPORT

ANA

Developer Comments: Rise and shine! How’s this for a rude awakening?

• Sleep Dart
  • Slept enemies slowly rise while Sleeping.
  • Enemies take fall damage when they land.

BAPTISTE

Developer Comments: Someone once advised Baptiste to keep moving forward. He’s really taken that advice to heart.

• Exo-Boots
  • Now launches you forward rather than upward.
• Amplification Matrix
  • Increases speed of projectiles shot through it by 200%.

BRIGITTE

Developer Comments: Bigitte

• Scale increased by 1.5x.
• Armor increased from 50 to 150.
• Shield Barrier
  • Health increased from 250 to 700.
  • Always uses bigger size.
• Rally
  • Resets your Shield Bash cooldown.
  • Movement Speed bonus increased from 1.15x to 1.3x.

ILLARI

Developer Comments: Fixing a longstanding Illari bug, her solar powers are now fully functional.

• Captive Sun
  • After using Captive Sun, Illari becomes Solar Installed. She moves faster and charges her Solar Rifle Faster, her rifle always charges to full damage power.
  • Movement speed bonus 1.2x.
  • Attack charge time reduced by 40%.
  • Healing recharge bonus 1.2x.
• Solar Powered
  • New Passive.
  • Illari is always Solar Installed when the sun is out.

KIRIKO

Dev Comment: You should see her on her trampoline.

• Protection Suzu
  • Now also grants allies a 10% damage boost, 10% healing boost, 50% movement speed boost, and 700% increased jump height.
  • Increased duration from .65 to 1 second.
• Vulpine Agility
  • New Passive
  • Kiriko can jump an extra time in the air

LIFEWEAVER

Developer Comments: Reach new heights with Lifeweaver through the power of photosynthesis.

• Petal Platform
  • Now raises 20m (up from 8m).

LUCIO

Developer Comment: Lucio’s gun is now keepin’ it in time.

• Sonic Amplifier
  • Ammo increased from 20 to 30.
  • Recovery decreased from .14 seconds per bullet to .125 seconds per bullet.
  • Now Shoots 3 bullets per volley during Speed Boost and 5 bullets per volley during Healing Boost.
• Sound Barrier
  • Knocks up enemies the sound waves hit.

MERCY

Developer Comments: Goodbye, 0 damage numbers!

• Caduceus Staff
  • Damage boost from Secondary Fire removed.
  • Secondary Fire is now Damage Staff. (Ability 2 on Controller.)
  • Damage Staff Fires Caduceus Blaster projectiles.
  • Projectiles have a smaller size.
  • Size gets bigger during ult.
  • 2 more damage.
  • Projectiles reload automatically while not firing.
  • Projectiles reload at twice the speed while healing or after 4 seconds without firing.
  • Can fire projectiles at a reduced firing speed if healing beam is active.
  • Healing beam can heal at a reduced rate if Damage Staff is active.
• Caduceus Blaster
  • Removed.

MOIRA

Dev Comment: Moira’s right arm is starting to melt from all the experimentation, so she’s switching it up.

• Biotic Grasp (Primary Fire)
  • Now deals damage instead of healing.
• Biotic Grasp (Secondary Fire)
  • Now heals instead of doing damage.

ZENYATTA

Developer Comments: “Let Zen walk?” Not sure about that one.

• Orb of Destruction
  • Ammo increased from 25 to 32.
  • Secondary Fire charge time per projectile decreased from .52 to .47.
  • Secondary Fire projectiles fire 33% faster.
  • Secondary Fire damage decreased by 30%.
  • You can now charge up to 8 Orbs with Secondary Fire.
  • Zenyatta’s accelerates upward while charging Secondary Fire.

Overwatch 2 is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games on the market for fans of competitive multiplayer shooters, and it's available now for free on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4. Recently, Blizzard committed to making all Overwatch 2 heroes free for everyone once Season 10 kicks off on April 16, including the new damage hero Venture.

What you need to know

• When Blizzard Entertainment relaunched Overwatch as Overwatch 2 in 2022, it converted the game's 6v6 format into a 5v5 one with one less tank per team. This change was intended to speed the game up and promote more active playstyles, though it was (and still is) extremely divisive.
• Now, though, 6v6 can be enjoyed in Overwatch 2 with classic hero balancing thanks to a new Workshop custom game called "Overwatch 1 Emulator," made by a team of talented players.
• The mode reenables 6v6, reverts all Overwatch 2 reworks and balance changes, recreates abilities from the original game with near-perfect authenticity, and brings back cut maps like Temple of Anubis and Volskaya Industries.
• Like all Workshop modes, Overwatch 1 Emulator is playable on both the console and PC version of Overwatch 2; you'll find the code for it in the text below, along with a link to its Discord server where players are organizing play sessions.

When Blizzard Entertainment relaunched its popular 2016 PvP hero shooter Overwatch as Overwatch 2 in late 2022, its biggest — and most controversial — change to the game was the shift from a 6v6 format to a 5v5 one. Aiming to quicken the overall pace of the game and promote more active playstyles, the developer removed one tank hero from each team. But even though it also buffed tanks up to make tanking without a partner easier, the shift to 5v5 was nevertheless extremely divisive. Some enjoy the faster gameplay and greater impact individual players can have on a match, but others miss things like tank synergies and the original game's stronger emphasis on team-wide strategy.

Personally, I fall in the former camp (though having to tank alone does put a lot of pressure on you). If you're in the latter, though, you'll probably love the new 6v6 Overwatch Workshop custom game I spotted on Reddit last night. It's called Overwatch 1 Emulator, and on top of adding a second tank back to each team, it uses special scripts to revert all of Overwatch 2's reworks and balance changes while also removing the heroes it's added and bringing back maps it cut, essentially recreating the last version of Overwatch 1 with near-perfect authenticity.

The Workshop code for the mode is KHTG0, and like all Workshop experiences, it can be played on both the console and PC version of Overwatch 2 (that means crossplay compatibility, as well). You can jump in with a group of 11 other like-minded 6v6 enjoyers whenever you want, and there's an Overwatch 1 Emulator Discord server I recommend joining to find folks to play with. Notably, this community also hosts weekly scheduled lobbies every weekend, complete with a homemade MMR system and both ranked and unranked-style matchmaking.

While Overwatch 1 Emulator doesn't remake the original game exactly due to certain limitations — for example, Doomfist is a DPS again, but the recreated version of his classic Rising Uppercut ability doesn't have animations — what u/ecksdeetsafrepus and their team put together comes exceptionally close. While playing it, every hero has the exact same health (including the correct ratio of HP/armor/shields), barrier HP, cooldowns, and abilities they had in Overwatch 1's final patch. The mode also disables things like Overwatch 2's role-specific passives that allow supports to automatically self-heal and reduce Ultimate charge gained when damaging tanks.

The technical wizardry used to get any of this working is impressive, though my favorite is the soluton used to bring back Orisa's Protective Barrier shield. The creators first used a quarter of a sphere object to model the barrier, then wrote a script that makes it block damage if it's in front of an ally when an enemy player attempts to shoot them. Then, to visually represent the area covered by the shield, colored orbs were spread all over its surface area.

The final result (see the image above or below) looks a bit weird, but is remarkably functional — though unlike the original barrier, it fails to stop abilities like Roadhog's Chain Hook. Notably, u/ecksdeetsafrepus says that for now, it's being called "a balance feature that nerfs double shield," which is one of the infamously annoying strategies that became popular in Overwatch 1's later years.

While I do ultimately prefer the gameplay of Overwatch 2 myself, I'm very happy that something like this now exists for fans who'd like to enjoy Overwatch as it was before Blizzard restructured it. If you're one of them, make sure to check it out and join the Overwatch 1 Emulator Discord so you can squad up with fellow OW1 enthusiasts.

Want to play the mode with Overwatch 2 heroes like Junker Queen, Kiriko, and the others? There's an alternative version of it called Overwatch 1++ that unlocks and makes some balance adjustments to them to bring them more in line with the rest of the game's cast.

Overwatch 2 is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games on the market for fans of competitive multiplayer shooters, and it's available now for free on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4. Recently, Blizzard committed to making all Overwatch 2 heroes free for everyone once Season 10 kicks off on April 16, including the new damage hero Venture.

What you need to know

• Overwatch has released a new trailer showing off the latest Damage Hero to be added to the game.
• The hero, Venture, features groundbreaking abilities that allow them to travel underground for a period of time while being invincible, among other skills.
• Players can try out Venture for a limited time, starting March 28.

Season 10 of Overwatch 2 is just around the corner, and it's time for a look at the upcoming Hero. Originally unveiled in a sneak peek during Blizzcon 2023, Overwatch 2's Season 10 roster addition was announced as the Damage Hero, Venture. Venture is Overwatch's first confirmed nonbinary character, with a default costume based on archaeologists and miners—both in appearance and ability. A new gameplay trailer formally introduces Venture ahead of a limited-time trial from March 28-31, when players can test the hero's abilities for themselves before the new season begins.

Venture's introduction begins with revealing their name as Sloane Cameron before revealing their role as an archaeologist and adventurer with Wayfarer Society who is in the midst of excavating an artifact when they find themselves in the middle of battle. Venture's abilities were broken down in a handy infographic posted on the Overwatch Twitter account. 

The Damage Hero will be equipped with the Smart Excavator as their weapon, a massive handheld drill that fires projectiles that explode on impact with an area of effect for additional damage. For abilities, Venture can use Drill Dash to push forward and knock back enemies or burrow underground, becoming invulnerable for a short amount of time. Venture's re-entry to the battlefield from the underground is powerful enough to deal damage to surrounding foes.

Venture's passive abilities will include quick melees with increased damage and temporary shields when using other abilities. For their ultimate, players can look forward to Tectonic Shock, a burst of shockwaves that damage enemies in the surrounding area.

In a developer update from Overwatch 2, game director Aaron Keller shared that Venture would be the first Overwatch hero who would not be locked behind a battle pass. All players will be able to access Venture, and all heroes going forward, on release. Player responses to the announcement of Venture's abilities have been generally positive. Some players have expressed concerns, however, that the character's ability to become invincible coupled with temporary shields and high damage output could have a negative effect on game balance. 

Players can look forward to Venture's permanent placement in the roster when Season 10 kicks off in mid-April 2024.

What you need to know

• During the first Overwatch 2 developer update of 2024, game director Aaron Keller outlined changes players could expect to see soon. 
• New Overwatch 2 heroes will now be available for everyone, without being locked behind a Battle Pass or having to complete extensive challenges. 
• Blizzard Entertainment is also planning on reworking some maps after Season 12. 
• Overwatch 2 is currently in Season 9, with Season 10 expected to kick off mid-April 2024. 

Some big changes are coming to Blizzard Entertainment's team shooter. 

In the first Overwatch 2 developer update for 2024, game director Aaron Keller explained that starting with the upcoming hero Venture, Overwatch 2 heroes will no longer be behind a Battle Pass at launch. Instead, new heroes will be available for everyone to play at the same time. 

Additionally, while several new maps are in development, with some slated to launch in the coming seasons, Blizzard Entertainment is taking feedback on a number of existing maps like Havana, with the intent of focusing on some map reworks at some point past Season 12. You can check out the full developer update below:

Overwatch 2 has had a long road since launch

Keller also noted in the update that the Overwatch community is on track to cross 100 million players by next season. Previously, Blizzard Entertainment confirmed that Overwatch 2 crossed 25 million players just a few days after launch in October 2022. 

While the multiplayer side of Overwatch 2 has continually grown, the promised single-player mode was eventually canceled, with the developers instead opting to provide PvE (player vs. environment) co-op missions as part of the game's live service moving forward.

Analysis: A solid decision to welcome newcomers

While I doubt this move will mean much for regular players who are likely completing the challenges for the various heroes at a steady clip, this is certainly appealing for anyone that's been thinking about playing but hasn't hopped in yet, as well as players like me who enjoyed Overwatch 2 for a while but then took a long break for months at a time. 

I'm looking forward to the next season of Overwatch 2, and I'm also curious to see just how the arrival of Venture shakes up the playing field of available heroes, especially since Venture will be available for everyone at launch.

Overwatch 2 is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch as a free-to-play game.

What you need to know

• A new trailer has been uploaded by Blizzard Entertaining showcasing Overwatch 2's upcoming collaboration cosmetic skins with the critically-acclaimed anime series, Cowboy Bebop.
• The Legendary skins in question are a Spike Spiegel skin for Cassidy, a Faye Valentine skin for Ashe, a Jet Blake skin for Mauga, an Ed skin for Sombra, and an Ein skin for Wrecking Ball.
• The skins will be available to purchase and earn in Overwatch 2 on March 12, 2024.
• UPDATE: Overwatch artist Mike Hardison offered an in-universe explanation for these collaboration events, which you can read below. 

A while ago, Overwatch 2 teased a big collaboration with the classic 1990s sci-fi anime series, Cowboy Bebop, in the form of cosmetic Skins based on the main cast from the show. Now we get to see what those skins look like in action as Blizzard Entertainment has shown them off in a gameplay trailer.

As you can see from the trailer, certain Overwatch 2 will be getting these Cowboy Bebop-inspired skins which include Cassidy as Spike Spiegel, Ashe as Faye Valentine, Mauga as Jet Blake, Sombra as Ed, and Wrecking Ball as Ein. 

That last one is noteworthy Wrecking Ball's Ein skin can be earned for free by completing challenges and playing games.

In addition to cosmetic skins, there will be new emotes to buy, and background music from the Cowboy Behop show will be played in-game. The Cowboy Bebop skins, emotes and music will be available for Overwatch 2 tomorrow on March 12, 2024.

UPDATE (March 12, 2024): As a random aside, Overwatch 2 principle artist Mike Hardison offered an in-universe explanation for these collaborative events. Indeed, Overwatch is set in an alternative "real world" Earth, which means things like Cowboy Bebop and One Punch Man actually existed (as well as Blizzard itself, hence the map Blizzard World). As such, all of the collab event outfits are, in fact, character cosplays by the various Overwatch characters. Pretty cool. 

See you at Route 66 space cowboy

Overwatch 2 has done some pretty crazy collaborations this past year with its collaboration with One Punch Man, the K-POP group LE SSERAFIM, and most recently, Porsche of all things. This Cowboy Behop collaboration is no exception and is sure to tickle the nostalgia of many old-school anime fans who grew up watching Cowboy Behop on Toonami back in the 1990s.

These Collaboration skins, coupled with the many gameplay changes introduced in Season 9, will most definitely keep hardcore Overwatch fans hooked for a good long time and perhaps introduce fans of the show to the wild and heroic world of this long-running competitive Xbox shooter.

Overwatch 2 is available to download for free as a free-to-play game on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.

What you need to know

• Blizzard has revealed a wild collaboration with Porsche set to land in Overwatch 2 season 10. 
• Based on the all-electric Porsche Macan, a new D.Va mech will be landing in the game in the next season. 
• Of course, there's also a life-sized version. 

I play basically no PvP shooters anymore, despite a history playing the likes of Call of Duty and Overwatch. But, in the case of the latter, if there's a way to make me do my best Meerkat impression, it's teaming up with one of the world's best car brands. 

Revealed today, Blizzard is teaming up with legendary German automaker, Porsche, to drop a collaboration into season 10 of Overwatch 2. I may not care much for PvP shooters anymore, but I'll always care for cars. If you put something car related into your game, I'm listening. 

In this case, D.Va will be getting a special new mech designed around the all-electric Porsche Macan. To show it off, of course they built a life-sized version. 

I don't even know where to begin, frankly. It's all kinds of ridiculous in the best possible way. The detail on the life-sized version is insane. I haven't seen the latest Macan in the flesh, and truthfully, I hate SUVs anyway, but I don't know, this collaboration has me all kinds of happy. 

If you want to see the real thing, there's good and bad news. The good news is that you can, the bad news is that you'll have to be at SXSW. It'll be on display at Porsche Full Service until March 12, so if you're in the neighborhood, definitely swing by. 

The in-game version will be part of season 10, which is set to drop in April. Aside from some very basic (and very bad) testing on the Steam Deck, I've not touched Overwatch 2 yet. But thanks to Porsche, that's probably going to change. Even though I'll suck at it, in this thing at least I'll look good in the process. 

What you need to know

• Overwatch 2 is getting a crossover event with acclaimed anime series Cowboy Bebop. 
• The collaboration will see Bebop-themed skins for a number of characters, such as a Spike Spiegel outfit for Cole Cassidy. 
• The collaboration launches in Overwatch 2 on March 12, 2024.

The next big collaboration for the legends of Overwatch is on the way.

Overwatch 2 is getting a Cowboy Bebop crossover event, with Bebop-themed skins including a Spike Spiegel outfit for Cole Cassidy, a Faye Valentine skin for Ashe, a Jet Black Skin for Mauga, an Edward skin for Sombra, and finally an Ein outfit for Wrecking Ball. You can check out the teaser trailer for the collaboration below, which is amusingly animated in the style of the anime's iconic opening credits. 

The Overwatch 2 x Cowboy Bebop collaboration is set to launch on March 12, 2024. Overwatch 2 is currently available as a free-to-play game on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. 

Overwatch 2's season 9, which kicked off back on February 13, brought some major changes to the flow of the game, alongside continuing the launch of new skins. 

Cowboy Bebop is the latest big collaboration for Overwatch 2

Overwatch 2 hasn't shied away from big crossover events in the past, with a One Punch Man collaboration back in 2023. More recently, the game featured skins in a crossover with K-POP group LE SSERAFIM. 

Overwatch 2 is hardly the only ongoing service game to pull out big crossover events and limited time skins. Call of Duty: Warzone has seen a truly ridiculous number of crossovers in the past couple of years, with some of the latest bundles bringing character skins from Dune and Warhammer 40,000. 

Analysis: Just when I think I'm out...

I'd been content to take a long break from Overwatch 2, as a lot of my friends weren't playing and I've been busy playing different games for work. I'll have to dive back in and grab these skins though. 

I absolutely adore Cowboy Bebop (I know, hardly a revolutionary opinion to hold) so there's simply no way I can let these slide by. Hopefully they aren't too expensive all together, but I'm not holding my breath. I think I might put on the Cowboy Bebop vinyl soundtrack when I'm reading tonight. 

What you need to know

• Blizzard Entertainment has recently disclosed the patch notes for Season 9 of Overwatch 2.
• The patch notes reveal significant gameplay changes, including a new co-op mission called Cosmic Crisis, reworks for the Competitive Play game mode, balance updates for the playable Heroes, bug fixes, and more.
• Overwatch 2 is a competitive hero shooter where players play as the mighty heroes or villains of the Overwatch universe, compete in intense PVP matches, or work together to defeat hordes of enemies in PVE co-op missions.

On February 13, 2024, Blizzard Entertainment published the patch notes for Season 9 of Overwatch 2, titled 'Champions'. This long-running, competitive hero shooter has received many updates during its lifetime, and this one may be one of its biggest yet.

The patch notes reveal that Season 9 will add many balance changes to the roster of Heroes, reworks to the game's Competitive Play PVP mode, a co-op mission called Cosmic Crisis, bug fixes, and more.

Full patch notes for Overwatch 2 Season 9 are available at the game's official website.

Overwatch 2 Season 9 patch notes - New Event: Cosmic Crisis

Overwatch 2 is getting a new PVE co-op mission called Cosmic Crisis. The premise is that four players have crash-landed into the ruins of Ecopoint Antarctica and must find a way to repair their ship to escape. The players will have to fend off the enemy hordes of Null Sector and an ancient, eldritch force that seeks to corrupt our heroes and betray each other.

Overwatch 2 Season 9 patch notes - Competitive Play Updates

Developer comments: "With your feedback, we’ve made new improvements to Competitive Play that aim to provide more transparency into your progress after every match, plus we introduced a new skill tier and new Competitive Rewards to earn."

Overwatch 2 Season 9 patch notes - General Updates

Overwatch 2 Season 9 patch notes - Hero Updates

Developer comments: "Season 9 features changes to the fundamentals of Overwatch 2 gameplay that affect every hero. We’ve heard the community feedback around some gameplay pain points, and these changes are in response to many of those."

General Hero updates

Tank Hero updates

Damage Hero changes

Developer comments: "Pharah has a significant update that empowers more individual plays and shifting her movement capabilities from high up in the air to more horizontal movement that can cover distance quickly."

Support Hero changes

Overwatch 2 Season 9 patch notes - Map Updates

Developer comments: "We’ve added more cover—including new structures—to help counter some of the long sightlines around the first checkpoint. Additional changes in the third area allow attackers to push through certain chokes more easily."

Overwatch 2 Season 9 patch notes - Bug fixes

General bug fixes

Map bug fixes

Hero bug fixes