Blizzard Considers Bringing Back 6v6 to Overwatch, But It Won’t Be Easy

Blizzard Entertainment has announced plans to begin testing the potential return of 6v6 matches in Overwatch 2… eventually.

The update on the controversy plaguing the Overwatch community comes from game director Aaron Keller, who published a 3,600-word blog post on the subject today. It’s a lengthy statement about the history of 6v6, why It was removed with the launch of Overwatch 2and how Blizzard plans to retest the mode. Indeed, the team wants to bring back the 12-player option nearly two years after it was replaced by the faster-paced 5v5 mode.

“The community has suggested, once or twice, that we do a test,” Keller says. “Why not put different forms of 6v6 in the game to evaluate the results? We agree, and based on your feedback, we’re looking at how we can test different forms of 6v6 in the game to evaluate the results.”

Blizzard is revisiting the possibility of 6v6 in Overwatch 2.

Keller says the team remains focused on perfecting 5v5, but they’re also “looking at running a series of events to test different team composition formats in Overwatch 2.” Even the smallest hint of 6v6 is enough to rekindle interest among players who have been clamoring for its return, but implementing those tests isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. The technological challenges of 12-player lobbies are one of the biggest hurdles to overcome. The game director says that while the team is looking at a permanent performance increase across all platforms, it’s a “significant effort that would likely take at least several seasons to accomplish.” There’s also the issue of queue times, which could potentially be inflated across the entire Overwatch 2 experience if something like 6v6 were to remain in place.

No matter how much some players want 6v6 back, the changes to Overwatch 2’s formula present new challenges to overcome. While Keller says a new iteration of Quick Play: Hacked will experiment with team composition at some point during Season 13, it’s unclear when official testing will begin. He cautions that this proposed 6v6 reintroduction will be a long process, and that today’s post is just the “beginning of that conversation.”

“We ran the test for a few weeks to gauge community interest,” Keller said of the benefits of the tests. “Then we measured the impact it had on other Overwatch 2 experiences, like 5v5, arcade, etc. We took the lessons from that test to see what we can learn about the mode in the current ecosystem and for the future of Overwatch. We thought carefully about the lessons learned from each test we ran and how we can deliver what players are asking for. Whether that’s a 5v5 world, a 6v6 world, or both, that’s up to us to figure out in the future.”

Let’s break it down

Overwatch launched in 2016 and has since slowly evolved into a whole new world. As Blizzard has worked to establish fair and fun gaming environments, it has added, gutted, and changed a wide variety of game modes. As Keller noted, these changes include stricter hero limits in Quick Play, the addition of a more rigid mode known as Role Queue, and, of course, the move to 5v5.

The original Overwatch’s 6v6 format was its go-to structure until the experience was entirely replaced by Overwatch 2 in 2022. The free-to-play sequel replaced matches with 5v5, with Blizzard’s reasoning at the time being that it would reduce battlefield clutter and lead to a cleaner, more enjoyable experience for all three roles – Tank, Damage, and Support. Keller stands by this decision, saying that 5v5 is “more cognitively manageable” than 6v6 matchups. It also led to significantly shorter queue times for roles, especially for those queuing to play Damage Heroes.

A graph shared by Aaron Keller highlighting 5v5 and 6v6 ranked game wait times by role.

Keller acknowledges that 6v6 still has its benefits, and the decision to remove it was not taken lightly. Still, some still prefer the original format today and have even campaigned for its return. Calls for Blizzard to include a 6v6 option have reached a boiling point in recent months, with many players complaining that 5v5 is more punishing on an individual level, particularly when queuing to tank. As tensions within the Overwatch community rise, Blizzard has finally taken matters into its own hands.

Keller was Teasers are expected to offer more information about Blizzard’s point of view over the next several weeksand today’s post is probably more detailed than many expected. However, as the director mentioned, the studio has a lot of work and listening to do before team composition testing begins, and even then, it’s not certain that these experiments will yield the results the community wants.

Meanwhile, Overwatch 2 is heading toward the end of Season 11 of its post-launch roadmap. While details about how Season 12 will up the ante remain mostly a mystery, the studio just wrapped up a weekend of testing its new support hero, Juno, a nimble, space-themed competitor with interesting ties to the Overwatch universe. This latest addition to the roster will return as a fully playable character when Season 12 launches next month.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor at IGN. He began writing about the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work on sites such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to follow him on Twitter @MikeCripe.