Overwatch 2 bringing back 6v6 Competitive in another test while removing ‘confusing’ mode from ranked

Overwatch 2 gamers, your wish has been granted. Six-vs-six is coming back to Competitive Play, while its worst mode is being taken out of circulation to get worked out.

In a new Director’s Take blog post today, OW2 game director Aaron Keller wrapped up the 2024 year of the game with the news that six-vs-six will return to Competitive Play in a “mini” season that is beginning at the midway point of season 15, which begins in February.

“It’s still a little early to say what 6v6’s place is in Overwatch with a decent amount of people playing it, I think that it’s probably here to stay in some form, but so far, we’re not ready to swap the core format of the game,” Keller said.

Six-vs-six has proven to be popular with players, though. Keller said that the 6v6 Role Queue test last year accounted for 10 percent of all play hours in the game during its run, which is relatively high when compared to other limited time modes, so “there’s definitely a demand for a mode with this team size.”

The Clash game type, meanwhile, will be taken out of rotation in Competitive Play as Blizzard will “take the time to look at these maps and work to find ways to deliver the best Competitive experience for all of our players.”

Keller said the Clash, which released in 2024 and was inspired by Assault maps of old, had some problems, not least of which were how confusing it could be for players to realize which point on the map they were supposed to be fighting over at any given time. And so the mode will remain in Quick Play and other unranked modes, but disappear from ranked for the time being.

Keeping the blog mostly locked on Competitive, Keller opined that the team is aware that Jade weapon skin Competitive rewards getting vaulted soon is not a popular change with players. He defended the decision, however, noting that the Competitive weapons were supposed to stay locked to a specific year. He also said the new skin for 2025 is “pretty spectacular,” so it sounds like that won’t be changing any time soon.

As for heroes, Keller said that 2024’s three additions (damage hero Venture, support hero Juno, and tank hero Hazard) “introduced a new level of verticality that really makes battles more dynamic, and we want to continue bringing new heroes that can be engaging for both those of you using them and the opponents playing against them.”

In general, though, the director said that Blizzard happy with where Competitive is after numerous tweaks over the past year, as OW2 is more “approachable” for newer players and the focus on making it easier for friends to play together has been successful.

In 2024, Blizzard rebalanced hero health pools and changed projectile sizes to make solo tanking more manageable, while also reworking the passive abilities for each class and adding Competitive Drives at the end of seasons, so OW2 is quite different compared to where it was one year ago. And 2025’s large update should be no different.

“Looking ahead to 2025, we’re looking into how we can make all of our heroes more engaging and unique for players,” Keller said. “This is something the team is wanting to change up and look forward to sharing more…soon.”

And that “soon” is indeed soon, as up next for OW2 is the Overwatch 2 Spotlight showcase on Feb. 12. During the reveal, Blizzard will show what’s next for the game as far as heroes and maps, while also teasing “groundbreaking PvP gameplay changes.”