One of many largest modifications Blizzard has made for Overwatch 2 to this point was shifting the sport’s group measurement, from six gamers versus six, to 5 gamers versus 5. Altering to the 5v5 format was a radical and contentious choice, however Blizzard argued that it made matches extra readable and fewer noisy, each for gamers and for spectators. Decreasing the variety of gamers per match from 12 to 10 additionally benefited queue occasions, shortening the wait to get into video games.
However Blizzard is now reevaluating that call in response to participant suggestions, recreation director Aaron Keller wrote in a Director’s Take weblog on Thursday. 6v6 might return to Overwatch 2, Keller defined, however solely after ample testing and experimentation.
Reverting to a 6v6 format wouldn’t be a simple choice, Keller mentioned, and he spends a number of thousand thoughtfully thought of phrases explaining the assorted the reason why Blizzard selected to (and appears pleased with) the 5v5 construction of Overwatch 2, and the way it advantages gamers. Queue occasions are shorter, there are fewer shields to shoot by means of, and skirmishes are simple to observe. However Keller additionally acknowledges that not all gamers are pleased with 5v5, and plenty of need 6v6 again.
And so Blizzard is “taking a look at operating a collection of occasions to check out totally different core group composition codecs in Overwatch 2,” Keller wrote, and that features testing “totally different types of 6v6 within the recreation to gauge the outcomes.”
One of many larger points dealing with a doable return to the 6v6 format is Overwatch 2’s technical efficiency, which for the previous three years has been focused at two groups of 5 gamers — whereas additionally sustaining that efficiency on older platforms like Nintendo Change, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
“There have been fairly a number of upgrades and additions to Overwatch 2 that have an effect on the efficiency of the sport,” Keller wrote, citing quite a few visible upgrades and extra technically demanding hero kits. “In a 6v6 setting, these upgrades can have vital impacts for our gamers, inflicting the sport to underperform on older programs. Overwatch is a fast-paced recreation, and sustaining a recreation that runs easily throughout all our platforms is necessary for the participant’s expertise. Whereas a restricted time check might arrive sooner, the group continues to be investigating precisely how lengthy it will take to completely enhance efficiency throughout the sport. This is able to be a big effort that may almost certainly take at the least a number of seasons to perform.”
One other large caveat to reverting to 6v6 is a rise in queue occasions, Keller wrote. He identified that Overwatch 2 additionally has “tens of tens of millions of latest gamers which have solely performed 5v5 [since the game went free to play]. We wish to be brazenly aware to not frustrate those that like the sport as it’s right now.”
So Blizzard plans to check the affect of 6v6, Keller wrote, not simply in the way it impacts efficiency, queue occasions, and stability, but in addition the way it impacts different recreation modes. “We’d mirror rigorously on the learnings from no matter check we run and discover the right way to greatest give gamers what’s being requested for,” Keller wrote. “Whether or not that’s a world of 5v5, 6v6 and even each, is for future us to determine.”
Even the group construction of Overwatch 2 appears up for debate relating to 6v6 play. “We predict there may very well be different methods of placing a group collectively that aren’t fairly as inflexible as a set composition, however not as free as Open Queue,” Keller wrote. “We’ll be operating at the least one Fast Play: Hacked based mostly on this concept in Season 13.” (Season 12 begins on Aug. 20, which means season 13 ought to arrive in late October.)
Wrapping up his in depth breakdown of the 6v6 debate in Overwatch 2, Keller known as his new Director’s Take “simply the beginning of this dialog.”
“This isn’t the final time we’re going to be entering into 5v5 or 6v6,” he wrote.
