One of the biggest changes Blizzard has made for Overwatch 2 to date was shifting the game’s team size, from six players versus six, to five players versus five. Changing to the 5v5 format was a radical and contentious decision, but Blizzard argued that it made matches more readable and less noisy, both for players and for spectators. Reducing the number of players per match from 12 to 10 also benefited queue times, shortening the wait to get into games.
But Blizzard is now reevaluating that decision in response to player feedback, game director Aaron Keller wrote in a Director’s Take blog on Thursday. 6v6 could return to Overwatch 2, Keller explained, but only after sufficient testing and experimentation.
Reverting to a 6v6 format wouldn’t be an easy decision, Keller said, and he spends a few thousand thoughtfully considered words explaining the various reasons why Blizzard chose to (and seems happy with) the 5v5 structure of Overwatch 2, and how it benefits players. Queue times are shorter, there are fewer shields to shoot through, and skirmishes are easy to follow. But Keller also acknowledges that not all players are happy with 5v5, and many want 6v6 back.
And so Blizzard is “looking at running a series of events to try out different core team composition formats in Overwatch 2,” Keller wrote, and that includes testing “different forms of 6v6 in the game to gauge the results.”
One of the bigger issues facing a possible return to the 6v6 format is Overwatch 2’s technical performance, which for the past three years has been targeted at two teams of five players — while also maintaining that performance on older platforms like Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
“There have been quite a few upgrades and additions to Overwatch 2 that have an impact on the performance of the game,” Keller wrote, citing numerous visual upgrades and more technically demanding hero kits. “In a 6v6 setting, these upgrades can have significant impacts for our players, causing the game to underperform on older systems. Overwatch is a fast-paced game, and maintaining a game that runs smoothly across all our platforms is important for the player’s experience. While a limited time test could arrive sooner, the team is still investigating exactly how long it would take to permanently increase performance across the game. This would be a large effort that would most likely take at least several seasons to accomplish.”
Another big caveat to reverting to 6v6 is an increase in queue times, Keller wrote. He pointed out that Overwatch 2 also has “tens of millions of new players that have only played 5v5 [since the game went free to play]. We want to be openly mindful not to frustrate those who like the game as it is today.”
So Blizzard plans to test the impact of 6v6, Keller wrote, not just in how it impacts performance, queue times, and balance, but also how it affects other game modes. “We would reflect carefully on the learnings from whatever test we run and explore how to best give players what’s being asked for,” Keller wrote. “Whether that’s a world of 5v5, 6v6 or even both, is for future us to figure out.”
Even the team structure of Overwatch 2 seems up for debate when it comes to 6v6 play. “We think there could be other ways of putting a team together that aren’t quite as rigid as a set composition, but not as loose as Open Queue,” Keller wrote. “We’ll be running at least one Quick Play: Hacked based on this idea in Season 13.” (Season 12 starts on Aug. 20, meaning season 13 should arrive in late October.)
Wrapping up his extensive breakdown of the 6v6 debate in Overwatch 2, Keller called his new Director’s Take “just the start of this conversation.”
“This isn’t the last time we’re going to be getting into 5v5 or 6v6,” he wrote.
