Blizzard’s bringing back 6v6 Overwatch 2 in December to see how that whole thing goes

As promised, Blizzard Entertainment is going to give Overwatch 2 players one thing they’ve been asking for over the past two years: a return to 6v6 team compositions. The rollout of 6v6 play in December will be part of a series of tests, game director Aaron Keller said Thursday, that “are all about understanding if we can make the core game even stronger.”

Blizzard’s test of the return to 6v6 format will kick off during season 14 of Overwatch 2, which should start on or around Dec. 10. That first test period will be a variation of the game’s Open Queue format, Keller said, which is described as “Min 1, Max 3” — meaning each team of six must have at least one of each role, and no more than three. Players will be able to switch roles on the fly, as long as the team comp adheres to the “Min 1, Max 3” rule.

A second test is expected to kick off during the middle of season 14, meaning sometime in mid-January. That test will follow the original Overwatch’s 2-2-2 composition. Both tests will see “a series of balance changes that will apply to these two test modes only,” Keller said. “The power and survivability of tanks will go down in these 6v6 formats, and we’ll be taking a look at whether we need many of the passives that we’ve added in Overwatch 2.”

Blizzard will be conducting similar experiments this season, but with the existing 5v5 format in Quick Play. The first, called “Limit 2,” will allow for a maximum number of two players per role — meaning that, yes, there will be an opportunity to have two tanks on a team of five. If a team is running dual tanks in Limit 2, those players will be tuned to Open Queue balance, which gives tanks less health.

Regardless of how those tests work out, it doesn’t sound like Blizzard is fully committing to a definitive team size.

“Is there a world where both 5v5 and 6v6 exist permanently in Overwatch 2? If you had asked me a few months ago, I would have said no,” Keller said. “As we’ve discussed Overwatch 2’s future in light of making the game that our players want to play, we know our players can want more than one experience, and it would be something we’d need to consider moving forward.”

It sounds like the next few months will be some of the most interesting for longtime Overwatch 2 players, particularly for tanks, who have been suffering to varying degrees since Blizzard instituted the 5v5 switch. Whether 6v6 or more fluid team comps will relieve any of that pain remains to be seen, but it’s clear that the Overwatch team is throwing a lot at the wall to see what resonates with players.