Overwatch 2

Overwatch is one of the successful FPS shooters

The development studio Blizzard Entertainment has brought numerous legendary titles to the video game industry, which have determined the direction games would take. The still unmatched MMORPG World of Warcraft remains Blizzard’s flagship, but we must not forget their strategy games that were at the birth of esports: Starcraft and Warcraft. The card game Hearthstone is just the icing on the cake of a long history.

The most popular esports games

General information

Blizzard today faces widespread criticism from fans, especially for how they (don’t) take care of WoW, and the release of the long-awaited RPG Diablo IV added fuel to the fire, as it does not reach the quality of its predecessors and is mostly based on microtransaction fees. As a result, the release of the online FPS (first-person shooter) Overwatch 2, which was supposed to revive this dying franchise, was overshadowed. Unfortunately, it must be noted that the new Overwatch is not very popular and Blizzard is better at making fantasy RPG titles. But how is the esports scene around Overwatch today? What is behind its creation?

The new Overwatch did not bring much excitement

Large companies that are already known have an easier time releasing new titles than complete newcomers. The first Overwatch (released in 2016) was liked by Blizzard players, but due to better competing titles, this tactical shooter did not enjoy popularity for very long. The arrival of Valorant and the announcement of a new version of Counter-Strike combined with the fact that Blizzard has faced long-term criticism for how they treat their employees and the state of their games, caused a significant exodus of players from most games available on Battle.net (Blizzard’s digital distribution platform). It was 2023 when the release of the new version of Overwatch was announced at Blizzcon, but the gaming community remained very skeptical. The new game received positive reviews from critics, but it all seemed more like well-paid marketing than genuine reviews. Overwatch 2 did not set a new direction, but rather tried to catch the departing train on the tracks of FPS games. Today, Blizzard’s shooter maintains a relatively large player base, and it cannot be said that it is a dead game. Overwatch 2 certainly has its charm, it is free-to-play, but compared to the competition, it still lags behind. A recently released major update (Season 6) tries to change this, but only time will tell if it succeeds.

Game preview

Game mechanics and objectives

Overwatch 2 is a tactical shooter with heroes that players choose before the match. There are a total of 35 characters in the game, each with specific abilities that allow them to fully fulfill their primary role. These are divided into: damage, support, and tank. The developers aimed to speed up matches and make battles more action-packed. Compared to the first installment, the number of tanks per game was reduced from two to one, which also means that instead of 6vs6, the matches are played in a 5vs5 setup. Compared to Counter-Strike, shooting and aiming in Overwatch are not as challenging, and the game is generally more arcade-like, closer to Team Fortress 2 (especially in game modes) mixed with Valorant (hero abilities, agents). The objective of the game is, of course, to defeat the opposing team. How to achieve this? It depends on the map and the chosen game mode. In Point Capture, the attacking team tries to take points on the map from the defending players and push them back to their base. Payload has a similar principle, but here the attacking team pushes a cart across the map and must get it to the goal. The Control mode revolves around a single point that players must hold for a certain amount of time. Other modes include Hybrid (a combination of Point Capture and Payload), Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch.

Minimum HW requirements for Overwatch 2

Operating System: Windows 10 Processor: Intel® Core™ i3 or AMD Phenom™ X3 8650 Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 600 series, AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 series DirectX: 11.0 Memory: 6 GB Hard Disk: 50 GB Internet connection

Fancy a new hero skin?

The main business model of Blizzard today is microtransaction fees in their games, which can be used to purchase various upgrades, mostly cosmetic changes. It is no different with Overwatch 2, where you can buy a new look for your favorite hero with real money. You can also get these skins by opening so-called Loot boxes (similar to CS cases) or completing tasks in the Battle Pass (which also needs to be purchased with real money). Skins do not affect gameplay, only changing the appearance of your character. An important feature of Overwatch skins is their non-transferability between accounts – which means they are non-sellable and cannot be monetized. This makes them different from skins available on the Steam digital distribution platform.

Overwatch 2 and esports

Blizzard’s shooter is especially popular in North America, and this is reflected in its esports scene. Although European and Asian teams at a high level can be found, American teams prevail. Recently, the Overwatch Championship Series (OWCS) was announced, which is the highest esports league for this game. It is backed by the publisher itself and is divided into several parts: qualifications for each region (America, Asia, Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East), from which successful teams advance to the group stage of the tournament. This is followed by playoffs. The competition days are spread throughout the year, with the finals taking place in November. Of course, there are also “amateur” tournaments organized by the gaming community, which can be found both at home and abroad, but they do not attract as many viewers as the top-tier scene. For this reason, bookmakers mainly cover major matches.

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2️⃣ Do bookmakers cover Overwatch 2?

3️⃣ When was Overwatch 2 released?

Peter Broz

Article author – esports expert
Email: peter@slothbet.com

I came into contact with playing computer games long before a billion-dollar business with professional teams emerged around them. Although I never reached the professional level, I still have many acquaintances among the top esports players today. At SlothBet, I will primarily contribute to the esports section.

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