Is Overwatch 2 switching to 5v5? Players notice key clues in sequel’s gameplay footage

Overwatch players wanting to see some radical changes with Overwatch 2 may be in luck, as it seems the game could be changing from its current 6v6 format to 5v5.

Fans got to learn more info about the upcoming sequel during a BlizzCon 2021 presentation and while there were a couple of hidden secrets such as the unannounced Junker Queen hero and even a clan system, one of the larger features seemed hidden in plain sight.

Players observed how seemingly all the PvP footage shown had five heroes on both teams – a big departure from the six-on-six matches we have now. Most notably too, is the fact that it appears that teams have just one tank each.

In a way, despite the fact the developers never outright said the game would move to five-on-five, it was potentially hinted at.

Early on in the presentation, the developers discussed role updates and new passives for the three roles: supports, DPS and tanks.

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DPS heroes could be getting a movement bonus, supports have automatic self-healing that kicks in, and tanks have less knockback in addition to generating less ultimate charge for enemies shooting them.

“One of the more shocking changes that we’ve been exploring in Overwatch 2 PvP is a change to the tank role entirely,” Game Director Jeff Kaplan said. “We want to try to make them more toe-to-toe brawlers and less characters that just stand back and protect other people.”

Some of the examples given were that Reinhardt could have two Fire Strike charges and even cancel his pin mid-charge – something many tank players have wanted for a long time.

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Making tanks so much deadlier by themselves could very well indicate that teams will now consist of two DPS, two supports, and just one tank.

One of Overwatch’s first-ever Experimental Cards even let players try out the game with three DPS, two supports, and one really over-tuned tank, so there have been some clues that this is the direction Blizzard has wanted to take things.

There is, however, one image floating around that very well could undo all this theory-crafting by fans and it’s of the lifeless corpse of a Roadhog on the freshly unveiled New York map, presumably on the same team as an enemy Winston.

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The Roadhog model does look smaller than the one currently in Overwatch, suggesting a few possibilities: Roadhog be moving to the DPS category, the devs were using it as a placeholder for a new hero, or the game is staying six-on-six.

Nonetheless, it’s definitely an interesting development and one that fans are certainly going to be watching closely as more information about Overwatch 2 rolls out in the months ahead.