Could Overwatch 2 Bring Back the 6v6 Team Format? Blizzard Says It’s Thinking About It

One of the biggest changes Blizzard has made for Overwatch2 Up until now, the game’s biggest change has been to shift the team size of the game from six players versus six to five players versus five. The switch to a 5v5 format was a radical and controversial decision, but Blizzard argued that it made matches more readable and less noisy, both for players and spectators. Reducing the number of players per match from 12 to 10 also improved queue times, reducing the wait time to get into games.

But Blizzard is now reconsidering that decision in response to player feedback, wrote game director Aaron Keller in a Director’s Take blog on thursday. 6v6 could return to Overwatch2Keller explained, but only after sufficient testing and experimentation.

Keller said that it wouldn’t be easy to return to a 6v6 format, and he spends a few thousand thoughtful words explaining the various reasons why Blizzard has chosen (and seems happy with) using the 5v5 structure. Overwatch2and how it benefits players. Queues are shorter, there are fewer shields to shoot through, and skirmishes are easier to follow. But Keller also acknowledges that not all players are happy with 5v5, and many want 6v6 back.

And so Blizzard is “looking at hosting a series of events to try out different formats for core team composition Overwatch2Keller wrote, and that includes testing “various forms of 6v6 in-game to measure results.”

One of the bigger issues facing a potential return to the 6v6 format is Overwatch2the technical performance of, which has focused on two teams of five players for the past three years, while maintaining that performance on older platforms like Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

“There have been quite a few upgrades and additions to Overwatch2 “These upgrades will have a significant impact on the game’s performance,” Keller wrote, citing numerous visual upgrades and more technically demanding hero kits. “In a 6v6 environment, these upgrades could have a significant impact on our players, causing the game to underperform on older systems. Overwatch is a fast-paced game, and maintaining a game that runs smoothly across all of our platforms is important to the player experience. While a limited time test could come sooner, the team is still investigating exactly how long it would take to permanently improve the game’s performance. This would be a major effort that would likely take at least multiple seasons to accomplish.”

Another big caveat to returning to 6v6 is an increase in queue times, Keller wrote. He pointed out that Overwatch2 also has “tens of millions of new players who have only played 5v5 (since the game went free-to-play). We want to be open about not frustrating those who enjoy the game as it is.”

So Blizzard plans to test the impact of 6v6, Keller wrote, not just in how it affects performance, queue times, and balance, but also how it affects other game modes. “We would carefully consider the lessons from whatever test we conduct and examine how we can best give players what’s being asked of them,” Keller wrote. “Whether that means a 5v5 world, 6v6 world, or even both, is up to the future to determine.”

Even the team structure of Overwatch2 seems to be up for debate when it comes to 6v6 play. “We believe there are other ways to build a team that aren’t as rigid as fixed composition, but aren’t as loose as Open Queue,” Keller wrote. “We will be running at least one Quick Play: Hacked based on this idea in Season 13.” (Season 12 starts on August 20, which means Season 13 should arrive in late October.)

He concludes his extensive analysis of the 6v6 debate in Overwatch2Keller called his new Director’s Take “just the beginning of this conversation.”

“This isn’t the last time we’ll play 5v5 or 6v6,” he wrote.