Overwatch 2 is a 2023 American first-person hero shooter video game created by Blizzard Entertainment. It is a follow-up and replacement for the 2016 game Overwatch. The game includes new game modes and smaller teams, with five players instead of six. It is free to play on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The game allows players to compete with others on different devices. Overwatch 2 was announced in 2019. It entered early access in October 2022 and officially released in August 2023. Originally, the game was planned to include story-based cooperative modes, but these were canceled in 2023 to focus on player versus player (PvP) gameplay. In February 2026, the game was renamed simply "Overwatch." The focus shifted to making it a game that continues to grow with new content and more attention on storytelling connected to new characters and seasonal updates. Critics gave the game mostly positive reviews.

Gameplay

Overwatch 2 is a game where players choose from over 40 characters called "heroes" to fight in teams of five. Heroes are divided into three roles: "damage" heroes attack enemies, "support" heroes heal and help teammates, and "tank" heroes protect their team. Each hero has special abilities, including active skills, passive skills, and powerful ultimate abilities. The game focuses on player versus player (PvP) battles across different game modes and maps. It includes casual matches, ranked competitive matches, and fun arcade-style games.

All heroes from the original Overwatch are available in Overwatch 2, along with new heroes added for the sequel. The original game had six players on each team, with two of each role. Overwatch 2 reduced the number of tank heroes on each team to five players total. Game developers hoped this change would make the game faster and easier to follow. New maps were designed with more cover for players. Damage heroes received faster movement, support heroes gained health regeneration, and tanks were redesigned to be more offensive. Two heroes, Orisa and Doomfist, had major changes to their abilities to fit the five-on-five format.

Most team-based game modes from the original Overwatch, like Control, Escort, and Hybrid, are still in Overwatch 2. Assault maps were removed from standard matches but remain in arcade and custom games.

New game modes added in Overwatch 2 include:

• Push: Teams compete to move a robot toward the opponent's goal on a symmetric map. The robot only moves if at least one teammate is near it and no enemies are close.
• Flashpoint (added in Season 6, August 2023): Teams fight for control of a central point and then one of four other points. The match ends when a team captures three points.
• Clash (added in Season 12, August 2024): Teams fight to capture five objectives in order. The next objective is closer to the opposing team's starting area. The match ends when a team completes five captures.
• Stadium (added in Season 16, April 2025): Teams play a best-of-seven series on smaller versions of Control, Push, or Clash maps. Players earn in-game currency for performance, which can be used to upgrade their characters. The mode is only available in competitive play and offers cosmetic rewards for high ranks.

Overwatch 2 includes a ping system to help players communicate with teammates.

Overwatch 2 is free to play, unlike the original game, which required payment. It no longer uses loot boxes but instead offers a battle pass system with seasonal rewards. Players can buy cosmetics directly in the in-game store. New heroes are available for free on the battle pass, and players who miss certain tiers can still obtain them later. Seasonal cosmetics and special events are also available. Blizzard has partnered with other franchises, such as Diablo IV, One-Punch Man, Cowboy Bebop, and Le Sserafim.

A Blizzard Battle.net account is needed to play Overwatch 2 on any platform. The game supports cross-progression, meaning cosmetics, currency, and progress are shared between PC and console versions. Competitive rankings on PC and console are separate.

In August 2023, three story-based missions were added to advance the game’s story. These missions are paid and were previously part of battle pass bundles.

Hero Mastery courses were introduced in September 2023 to help players improve with specific heroes. These courses were removed in late 2025.

In February 2024, a major update improved combat and the competitive system. Heroes received more health and healing, and gun-based characters were strengthened. The ranking system now adjusts after every game, similar to the original Overwatch. All players had their rankings reset and needed to play ten matches to earn a starting rank.

In April 2024, Blizzard changed its policy, making new heroes free for all players instead of requiring them to be earned through the battle pass.

Development

Overwatch 2 was announced at BlizzCon on November 1, 2019. The game was planned to share a multiplayer environment with the original Overwatch, allowing players in both games to compete in the same player versus player (PvP) modes while keeping all unlocked cosmetics and features. Jeff Kaplan, the director of Overwatch, said this decision was important and required him to explain the "player-first" approach to Blizzard executives, despite industry trends focused on new sales. All new heroes, maps, and PvP modes were added to both games to keep the shared environment.

Activision Blizzard expected Overwatch 2 to be ready by 2020 or 2021, but the release date changed multiple times. One reason was the decision to make the game free-to-play, like many other multiplayer games. This made it harder to earn money from selling new heroes, leading Blizzard to use a battle pass system to balance player engagement and revenue from cosmetics. Another reason for delays was the difficulty of adding Kaplan’s ideas for player versus environment (PvE) gameplay, as the game’s engine and design were not prepared for large enemy forces.

According to Kaplan in a 2026 interview, these challenges were partly due to the Overwatch League, launched in 2017. The League grew quickly with heavy investment, pushing development to add features that benefited the League more than regular players. By 2019 and 2020, interest in the League dropped significantly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and unmet investment goals. Kaplan called the League an "albatross," a heavy burden.

Without financial support from the League, Activision pressured Blizzard to finish Overwatch 2, suggesting they hire more staff to match the size of teams at other free-to-play games. Blizzard resisted, fearing delays and extra costs, and wanted to avoid releasing the game annually. This pressure led Blizzard to push for an earlier release, forcing the team to focus more on monetization than new gameplay. In 2020, a Blizzard CFO told Kaplan that Overwatch 2 must meet specific financial goals or risk layoffs, which Kaplan described as "the biggest fuck you moment I've had in my career." He left Blizzard in April 2021.

Due to Activision’s pressure, the Overwatch team struggled to focus on Overwatch 2. From 2021, several key staff members, including Kaplan, left Blizzard. Aaron Keller became the lead developer for Overwatch 2, with pressure to release it quickly. To avoid delays like the canceled Titan project, Blizzard decided to separate the PvE and PvP elements, releasing the improved PvP version by 2022 and planning to add PvE later.

By mid-2022, Blizzard announced Overwatch 2 would be free-to-play. They confirmed that the original Overwatch servers would shut down on October 2, 2022, but players kept their cosmetics and in-game currency. At least three new heroes—Sojourn, Junker Queen, and Kiriko—were added to the roster.

Overwatch 2 uses an upgraded version of the original game’s engine, allowing for larger maps to support PvE content. Existing heroes received visual redesigns, though not all were completed at launch. Twelve of the 31 redesigns were finished by the game’s reveal.

Overwatch 2 was released in early access on October 4, 2022, for multiple platforms. Kaplan emphasized quality over timing, but investor documents from 2021 mentioned delays until at least 2023 to allow more time for development. Kaplan hoped Overwatch and Overwatch 2 would eventually merge into one product. Technical director John Lafleur mentioned plans for cross-platform progression and play.

In March 2022, Blizzard said they had focused too much on Overwatch 2, harming support for the original game. They changed plans to release Overwatch 2 in parts, with the PvP portion in beta starting in April 2022 and PvE later. The first closed beta began on April 26, 2022, and ended on May 17. Access was earned through sign-ups or watching specific Twitch streamers.

The game without PvE was released in early access on October 4, 2022, but faced a DDOS attack, making it hard for players to access. Blizzard also required identity verification via SMS, which locked out some players with prepaid cellular plans. By October 7, this requirement was removed for players who had played Overwatch since June 2021. Blizzard planned to offer double experience points and free cosmetics to compensate.

PvE modes were planned for later in the game’s lifecycle, differentiating it from the original.

Reception

Overwatch 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics when it was released, according to the review aggregator Metacritic.

Tyler Colp of PC Gamer criticized Blizzard's approach to the sequel, stating that the game "intentionally or not, is trying to replace the original, even if it's not intentional." Colp added, "the original Overwatch is still in the game, but it has been weakened by the pressure of Blizzard's goals for the sequel."

Regarding the game's 5v5 gameplay, compared to its predecessor's 6v5 format, IGN's Simon Cardy wrote: "it moves Overwatch 2 away from the stagnant gameplay its predecessor had over the past few years, but it also loses some of the fun of team play." Cardy also noted, "if the question is whether Overwatch 2 is fun, the answer is yes. It is still a good hero shooter, but it is not as strong as the original."

Jessica Howard of GameSpot wrote, "Overwatch 2 shifts the franchise from a unique shooter to one that follows trends. It no longer feels like a special sci-fi, superhero game, but more like other games in the genre." Chris Carter of Destructoid wrote, "Overwatch 2 does not have the same popularity as the original, but I still enjoy playing it sometimes. The charm remains, even though the way the game is presented is confusing, and it is no longer easy to access characters without spending money. A future update might improve this, but it needs more work." The team shared plans for major updates in a blog, aiming to improve competitive play and help players track their progress.

The game removed loot boxes, replacing them with a battle pass system. This change faced criticism, especially because the character Kiriko was made available for free only after completing the first season's battle pass. CJ Wheeler of Rock Paper Shotgun wrote, "Looking at comments from players on Twitter shows many people are upset about the battle pass system. They accuse Blizzard of favoring players who spend money and making the game too hard to enjoy without spending real money." Critics also pointed out that the cost of cosmetic items and the time needed to earn them without spending money were issues. Many players and journalists noted that other games often provide enough in-game currency to get the next battle pass for free.

When Overwatch 2 was released on Steam, it received many negative reviews and became the worst-rated Steam game within 48 hours. This was described as "review bombing," where players left negative feedback. Users criticized Blizzard's handling of the game, including the removal of planned PvE content, which the director Aaron Keller acknowledged. Players also expressed frustration with issues related to the company's past, such as allegations of sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard. Nearly two-thirds of the negative reviews were written in Simplified Chinese, which experts linked to Blizzard ending its partnership with NetEase in China in 2023, leaving Chinese players unable to access local servers.

With the release of Season 15 in February 2025, which added perks to core gameplay and reintroduced loot boxes, user reception improved. Steam reviews shifted from "Overwhelmingly negative" at launch to "Mixed" after the update.

Over 35 million players used Overwatch 2 in its first month of release in early access, compared to 15 million players for the original Overwatch three months after its release. By July 2024, both games had over 100 million players. When Marvel Rivals, a team-based hero shooter with similar mechanics, launched in December 2024, Overwatch 2 saw a nearly 40% drop in concurrent players on Steam, due to competition from Marvel Rivals. However, Marvel Rivals' player count dropped by 85% soon after, while Overwatch 2's player count on Steam doubled.

Overwatch 2 was nominated for the British Academy Games Award for Multiplayer at the 19th British Academy Games Awards.