Overwatch 2 could be going back to 6v6, as Blizzard plans gameplay tests

Blizzard Entertainment has begun discussing the possibility of switching Overwatch 2 back to the 6v6 team sizes that were present in the original game, moving away from the current 5v5 team matches.

In a blog post titled Director’s Take, Game Director Aaron Keller delves into the ongoing debate between 6v6 and 5v5, highlighting the advantages and challenges of the current format. He also announces that Blizzard will be conducting gameplay tests to evaluate the potential switch.

The decision to switch to 5v5 was primarily made to address the tank-heavy meta. With only one tank per side, there is now a single defensive barrier for teams to overcome, reducing issues like double shield and allowing damage characters to be more impactful. This change also enables healers to play a more active role beyond just supporting the front line, and decreases the reliance on ultimates and ultimate combos.

Additionally, the shift to 5v5 has led to shorter matchmaking times, as the 1-2-2 format aligns better with player preferences, easier match tracking with nine players instead of eleven, and some performance improvements.

Despite these benefits, many players have expressed a desire to return to 6v6 gameplay. Having two tanks allows for stronger team compositions that can compensate for weaker links and creates moments of heightened chaos when a defensive line collapses. This element of fun is something the community is vocal about wanting back.

Keller acknowledges the player feedback, stating, “At the end of the day, we want to make the game that players want to play.” Therefore, if there is a demand for 6v6, Blizzard will consider making the switch.

He adds, “because we operate as a service to our players, we always remain open-minded to re-evaluating our decisions based on your actions and feedback, to give you the best game experience we can. Rather than introduce a disruptive, permanent change to the game, we’d prefer to explore the space further and make changes based on that exploration.

“With that said, we’re looking at running a series of events to try out different core team composition formats in Overwatch 2. The community has, juuuust once or twice, suggested a test. Why not put various forms of 6v6 in the game in order to gauge the results? We agree, and based on your feedback, we’re exploring how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results. This is taking some time, however, for reasons that may not be readily apparent.”

Blizzard is currently in the process of planning these tests, considering factors like healer visibility in the UI and potential performance optimizations to maintain gameplay quality.

If the community continues to show interest in 6v6 after the tests, and the metrics align with Blizzard’s analytics, the switch to 6v6 could become permanent or be introduced as a new option.

In conclusion, Keller emphasizes:

I’m going to jump on a soap box for a moment. When you look at the changes to Overwatch since its inception, it’s clear that many of those have reduced some of the variety within an Overwatch match. We get feedback from some players that Overwatch can feel “the same” from game to game. While much of this gets attributed to 5v5, we feel that there is more at play here. Besides running experiments with 6v6, we’d like to run some that re-examine the ways we tried solving previous problems, specifically with the goal of bringing some of the freedom back to an Overwatch match without the severity of issues that accompanied it. For instance, we think there could be other ways of putting a team together that aren’t quite as rigid as a set composition, but not as loose as Open Queue. We’ll be running at least one Quick Play: Hacked based on this idea in Season 13. There are some gotchas to this direction, but after reading 400 pages of this blog, I hope you’re all able to see that there are trade-offs to many of the decisions that go into this game (and into any game, really).

This announcement coincides with Overwatch 2 facing new competition in the hero shooter genre, with Sony launching Concord as a premium title and the upcoming Marvel Rivals as a free-to-play alternative. It is a critical time for Blizzard to maintain community engagement.

Source: Blizzard