Is 6v6 returning in Overwatch 2? Devs respond
BlizzardWith Overwatch 2‘s launch Blizzard made the decision to scrap 6v6 matches in favor of 5v5, reducing the number of Tanks on both teams to just one. But, ever since players have been desperate for the original format to return.
With Season 11 now live, the devs have opened up on how they feel Tanks are performing in the current meta and the “tough spot” the role is in. This led a number of players to speculate that Blizzard could bring back the extra Tank slot in a future update.
So, is 6v6 coming back to Overwatch 2? Here’s everything we know so far.
Are 6v6 matches coming to Overwatch 2?
Blizzard are starting testing to see if they can bring back the 6v6 format in a future update, as was confirmed Game Director, Aaron Keller.
“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,” he said in the latest Director’s Take.
The first reason why testing could take some time is because the devs need to make the change while considering the technical performance involved. Overwatch 2 saw a lot of additions and changes from the original that can impact the game’s performance significantly if 6v6 returns.
The second is that Keller and the dev team struggled previously to keep queue times reasonable. In a 6v6 format, this may get worse, and players could wait for a long time to find a game.
Lastly is the case that millions of Overwatch players have only been exposed to the 5v5 format. Since the game went free when the sequel released, it has seen exponential growth in its playerbase, which means that not all players are asking for 6v6 to come back.
Interestingly, though, it seems this conversation has devs thinking about how different formats could work outside of 5v5 and 6v6.
“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,” Keller explained.
The larger point is that there are a lot of things to consider to make sure 6v6 is balanced, and testing and player feedback will play a large role in deciding whether or not it does return.
Why was 6v6 removed?
There are a few reasons why Blizzard decided to move to a 5v5 format when Overwatch 2 launched, and most of it has to do with player agency and Hero effectiveness.
6v6 matches, according to Keller, often saw the problem of being heavily reliant on Ultimate ability combos in order to break through enemy Tank lines – because there were two of them. Additionally, the frustration of using Tanks that didn’t synergize well would often make matches unfun.
Secondly, Support players would also be forced to focus solely on healing because of the large health pools that existed in a 6v6 team. This meant that a lot of their utility was lost in matches, and the 5v5 format aimed to correct this issue.
Keller continued to explain that DPS players often felt that their role had little impact against bigger teams, and overall, it was much more difficult to keep track of 11 other players compared to nine with a 5v5 format.
Overwatch 2 Season 12 is the next major update, which is also set to bring the new Hero Juno. There’s a lot to look forward to still before we see testing for new formats start in Season 13, but we will keep you updated with any more information as it becomes available.