Overwatch 2 Multiplayer Goes Free-to-Play, Launches This October

Blizzard Entertainment announces that the competitive multiplayer portion of their hero shooter Overwatch 2 will launch as a free-to-play in Early Access on October 4. The company also revealed the game’s new tank hero called Junker Queen. 

“We can’t wait to roll out the beginning of the Overwatch 2 experience on October 4 and introduce an exciting new competitive vision, featuring amazing new content and a reimagining of the iconic heroes, maps, and gameplay that made the original game so compelling,” Mike Ybarra, president of Blizzard, said in a press release.

Blizzard is planning to share more details on Overwatch 2’s transition to being a live service game and their seasonal content plan as they have a “reveal event” livestream happening on June 16, 1 PM ET. You’ll be able to view the event on either Blizzard’s YouTube or Twitch channels. 

The multiplayer portion of Overwatch 2 will go live with cross-platform play and progression between the Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Sereis X|S, and Xbox One. 

With regards to the new hero, Junker Queen is an Australian-born tank hero and is said to be the ruler of a town called Junkertown. This is the second new hero announced for Overwatch 2 and is the 34th hero to join the Overwatch roster. 

There wasn’t any talk of the PVE co-op campaign mode planned for Overwatch 2, so it looks like that portion of the game is planned for release at a later date. 

This isn’t the only reveal Blizzard did during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase as they revealed the fifth and final class for Diablo 4 and more information about the action RPG that’s going for a more open world approach this time around.