One of many largest adjustments Blizzard has made for Overwatch 2 to this point was shifting the sport’s staff measurement, from six gamers versus six, to 5 gamers versus 5. Altering to the 5v5 format was a radical and contentious resolution, 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 instances, 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 enough testing and experimentation.
Reverting to a 6v6 format wouldn’t be a straightforward resolution, Keller mentioned, and he spends just a few 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 instances are shorter, there are fewer shields to shoot by, and skirmishes are straightforward to comply with. However Keller additionally acknowledges that not all gamers are pleased with 5v5, and lots of need 6v6 again.
And so Blizzard is “taking a look at working a collection of occasions to check out completely different core staff composition codecs in Overwatch 2,” Keller wrote, and that features testing “completely 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 Swap, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
“There have been fairly just a few 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 important impacts for our gamers, inflicting the sport to underperform on older methods. 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 take a look at might arrive sooner, the staff remains to be investigating precisely how lengthy it might take to completely enhance efficiency throughout the sport. This might be a big effort that might most definitely take a minimum of a number of seasons to perform.”
One other huge caveat to reverting to 6v6 is a rise in queue instances, Keller wrote. He identified that Overwatch 2 additionally has “tens of thousands and thousands of latest gamers which have solely performed 5v5 [since the game went free to play]. We wish to be overtly aware to not frustrate those that like the sport as it’s at present.”
So Blizzard plans to check the affect of 6v6, Keller wrote, not simply in the way it impacts efficiency, queue instances, and stability, but in addition the way it impacts different recreation modes. “We’d mirror fastidiously on the learnings from no matter take a look at we run and discover methods 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 staff construction of Overwatch 2 appears up for debate in relation to 6v6 play. “We predict there could possibly be different methods of placing a staff collectively that aren’t fairly as inflexible as a set composition, however not as free as Open Queue,” Keller wrote. “We’ll be working a minimum of one Fast Play: Hacked based mostly on this concept in Season 13.” (Season 12 begins on Aug. 20, that means season 13 ought to arrive in late October.)
Wrapping up his intensive breakdown of the 6v6 debate in Overwatch 2, Keller referred to as his new Director’s Take “simply the beginning of this dialog.”
“This isn’t the final time we’re going to be stepping into 5v5 or 6v6,” he wrote.
