Seasonal updates every nine weeks
[Update: This article has been updated with new information revealed in the time since launch.]
During the Overwatch 2 Reveal Event this morning, Blizzard elaborated (somewhat!) on its free-to-play launch and what’s in the content pipeline for this live-service sequel.
If you’ve been waiting to hear more about PvE, welp, that wasn’t the focus of today’s stream — and the new story missions won’t be playable until 2023 — but we’ve got a roadmap for PvP and confirmation that loot boxes are out and a battle pass format is in.
Coming off of Overwatch 1, the team’s main goal is to try and deliver content on a “frequent and consistent basis,” according to game director Aaron Keller.
Currently, they’re committing to major updates every nine weeks, starting with the launch on October 4. “Players can expect to see a new hero every other season, with elements like new maps and game modes in the seasons between,” Blizzard said in a blog post.
The 2022 roadmap and a tease for 2023
As you can see from this roadmap, Season 1 of Overwatch 2 will be out on October 4 with three new heroes — Sojourn, Junker Queen, and a new support hero, who Blizzard teased with a snippet of footage featuring a spirit fox (that we’ve come to k now as Kiriko). It’ll also be the debut of Push mode, six new maps, and more than 30 character skins, including a new Mythic tier of skins.
The first example of a Mythic skin was a cool Cyber Demon skin for Genji with customization elements like tattoos, masks, and colors. I’m… intrigued! And also worried about how much Mythic skins will cost (whether that’s actual money or time invested).
The Season 1 Overwatch 2 hero: Kiriko
Kiriko is a support hero hailing from Japan.
The Season 2 Overwatch 2 hero: Ramattra
Ramattra is a tank hero, and is an Omnic that hails from Null Sector.
Other new cosmetics, like banners and weapon charms, will help pad out the battle pass; one example was a little frosted donut keychain. There will be a shop with virtual currency.
Cross-progression
Crucially, with all of this new Stuff for players to stockpile, Blizzard said that if you earn something on console, PC, or in Overwatch 1, you can use it in Overwatch 2. In other words, there’s cross-platform progression, which is definitely something they had to deliver. That said, the first Overwatch 2 battle pass won’t be ready until Season 2 starts on December 6. After all this time, the launch — well, the “rollout,” really — sure seems gradual.
Competitive
Starting with Season 1 on October 4, Overwatch 2 will have “a reimagined competitive experience that was created to give players more tools to improve gameplay and feel a sense of progression in competitive play,” according to Blizzard. “Players will have more of an impact on individual matches with the shift to 5v5, and there will be additional systems in place to help you discern your contributions per match.”
Overwatch 2 PvE and story mode release date
As for Overwatch 2 PvE, we got a few gameplay glimpses of Null Sector’s return and some fairly open-ended developer quotes about the team’s ambitions.
“With PvE, we have an opportunity to go a step further, to go deeper into diverse storytelling in ways that we really just haven’t been able to before,” said Keller. It’ll be delivered starting in 2023 “through live service,” just like the PvP content. The team plans to show off (more of) where the characters are from in these PvE “experiences.”
Beta sign-ups
A new map, Rio, and Junker Queen, will be playable in the Overwatch 2 closed beta starting on June 28. Beta sign-ups are now available for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
Notably, “Beta access does not roll over from the previous Overwatch 2 PvP Beta.”
