How to play Overwatch PTR

When Overwatch developers want to make changes to the game or add new heroes, they often have to test their creations before launch. The Public Test Realm, or PTR, exists for players to try out these changes before they hit the live servers.

Although Overwatch has been stagnant as far as new heroes or maps in recent months while Overwatch 2 is developed, Blizzard still periodically rolls out a new PTR update for players to test out hero changes and more. It’s like the Experimental Card, but there’s some more work to be done to get access—and here’s how to do it.

First, you have to open the Battle.net launcher and select Overwatch, as if you were launching the base game. In the bottom left of the launcher, above the “Play” button, your region will be listed—either Americas, Europe, or Asia—in a drop-down menu.

Upon selecting the drop-down menu, you’ll see “Public Test Region” as one of the options. Select it and press “Install” when prompted.

That’s all for the installation. The PTR’s installation size varies depending on how much content is necessary at the time but can be upwards of a few gigabytes, so set aside time for downloads.

The PTR is different from the base Overwatch game regions and comes with its own set of upsides and downsides. A separate player profile is created for the PTR, in which you’ll have to re-add friends to play with them. Arcade modes are limited, but the creation of custom games remains to try out new heroes or wild new strategies with the latest changes.

Players from all over the world can play on the PTR, but the servers are hosted in the Americas. This means there may be increased ping and lag for players outside of America. There’s also a disclaimer that the PTR may involve running into some bugs and glitches as a part of the process. Beta testing changes means bringing these issues to the attention of the developers to help improve the game.