Overwatch 2 is finally bringing back 6v6 with tests to decide OW’s future

The Overwatch 2 devs have finally revealed plans to return to 6v6 gameplay through a series of tests to determine if the game should permanently go back to the old format.

At launch, Overwatch 2 differentiated itself from the original game by dropping to 5v5, with just one tank per team to emphasize FPS gameplay and reduce queue times.

However, this change meant that teamplay took a bit of a hit, and there were no longer the same big ultimate combo moments that made some people fall in love with the original.

Now, after years of complaining and petitions from its players for 6v6 to return, Overwatch 2 will be doing just that… sort of.

“We’re looking at running a series of events to try out different core team composition formats in Overwatch 2,” Game Director Aaron Keller said. “We’re exploring how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results.”

Blizzard Entertainment

Although not outright stated, “different forms of 6v6” could mean sticking to one tank per team and instead introducing a third DPS to each squad.

Keller says the outcome of these tests will give the team an idea of where to take the game and suggested that there could be a world where 5v5 exists along 6v6.

However, implementing these tests doesn’t come without some challenges.

According to Keller, OW2 has undergone a series of performance and visual upgrades that could cause some issues with 12 players in a match.

“While a limited time test could arrive sooner, the team is still investigating exactly how long it would take to permanently increase performance across the game. This would be a large effort that would most likely take at least several seasons to accomplish,” the dev explained.

Furthermore, Keller expressed some concerns that queue times could become a problem again if 6v6 were to return permanently, as the team was unable to find a solution in the OW1 days.

Interestingly, the 6v6 experiments aren’t the only thing the devs have up their sleeves when it comes to trying out new formats.

“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 revealed, speaking of a willingness to bring more “freedom” back into an Overwatch match.

There are a number of directions the team could take OW2 in the months ahead, and it seems like they’re willing to try just about anything to spice up the gameplay and give players a compromise.

For all we know, the best format for the game isn’t role-lock 5v5 or 6v6, but something else that has yet to be tested.

The devs say that more info will be coming in the months ahead, but this is certainly not the last we’ll hear about the 6v6 discussion as debates about the best Overwatch format continue to be a hot topic that likely won’t end anytime soon.