If you miss Overwatch’s original 6v6 format, you’re in luck. If you prefer Overwatch 2’s 5v5 matches, you may also be in luck, it turns out. Developer Blizzard Entertainment has been considering a return to the original game’s structure, which had two teams of six players competing against each other, and it’s finally announced that a test is coming next season. But even Blizzard isn’t sure which format will win out, and there’s a chance both could live side by side in the future.
Blizzard’s new tests will start later in the current Season 13. One test will be a 5v5 mode with each role — damage, support, and tank — limited to two players per team, with tanks receiving less health. The next Season 13 test will be essentially the same, except a buff will be given to the player on the team that is the only one in their role.
Overwatch 2’s 6v6 tests will then take place during Season 14, which starts in December. One week after the season starts, Blizzard will begin testing a mode it calls “Min 1, Max 3.” Under this format, each team will need to have one of each role, and a maximum of three players per role. That’s a change from the standard 6v6 role-limited mode in the original Overwatch, which required each team to have two of each role. Blizzard describes this mode as a mix between role queue, which imposed limits of team roles, and open queue, which didn’t have any restrictions.
Around the middle of Season 14, the second 6v6 test will begin. This mode will essentially be the original role queue from Overwatch, requiring both teams in a match to have two of each role. Blizzard says it will be introducing balance patches that apply only to the test modes while their live. One change it’s already revealed is that tanks will have less power and health.
The upcoming tests will exist alongside other existing modes, rather than replacing any of them. And there’s at least a chance that they will lead to more mode variety in the game, rather than landing on either 5v5 or 6v6 becoming the default.
“Is there a world where both 5v5 and 6v6 exist permanently in Overwatch 2?” Blizzard wrote in the tests’ announcement. “If you had asked me a few months ago, I would have said no. 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.”
That’s far from a confirmation that the two formats will coexist, but the fact that Blizzard seems to be considering the idea before even running its tests does suggest that the developer is prepared to keep both around for the long term if that’s what players want.
Overwatch 2’s move to a 5v5 format in the first place has been one of the most controversial aspects of the game, mostly due to how it’s changed the tank role. Since standard matches now include only one tank instead of two, whoever is in that role is under a lot more pressure to stay alive, and the fate of an entire team can rest on the tank’s performance. That’s also led to an increase in tank power, making players in other roles often feel less important to matches’ outcomes. Even after two years since launch, and the announcement that the sequel’s advertised PvE mode was being canceled, the community’s broad disdain for the 5v5 format is one of the most commonly discussed aspects of Overwatch 2.
Still, someone out there must prefer 5v5, so the prospect of letting it live in harmony with 6v6 could be a worthwhile compromise. It could also raise issues with making it harder to find a full queue for matches, or stretching the development team too far as they balance for the different needs of the two modes, but that’s for Blizzard to work out later. For now, players can simply anticipate the return of what’s seen as the best way to play Overwatch, and see if it actually makes the sequel the game it was always meant to be.
