Overwatch 2 prepares to share ‘Groundbreaking PvP gameplay changes,’ and players can’t decide whether this means we’re getting 6v6 back or skill trees

Things have been a little quiet for Overwatch 2 over the last couple of months. Despite having its 14th season, releasing new Mythic weapon and hero skins, and hosting a couple of 6v6 tests, it hasn’t really been able to compete with the hype surrounding Marvel Rivals. But apparently, Blizzard has an ace up its sleeve.

“In 2025, Overwatch 2 is going to be packed with groundbreaking changes to the PvP experience that will be unlike anything you’ve seen before,” a blog post says. “But it’s going to take more than a blog or a developer update to let you know what we have coming this year.”

Blizzard is planning to host a livestream event on February 12 on its YouTube and Twitch channels: Overwatch 2 Spotlight. In this, it’ll show off some new heroes, maps, and more content that’ll be released over the rest of the year. If you tune into the stream, you’ll also be able to pick up the Lucio Cyber DJ Legendary Skin as an exclusive drop, but you’ll also have to watch an hour of the creators’ streams before you can claim this prize.

Overwatch 2 players are already trying to theorise what this could mean, and despite Blizzard’s teasing that these new features are “unlike anything you’ve seen before,” some people still think that this could mean that 6v6 will finally make an official comeback. “I bet it’ll be 6v6—my fingers are crossed,” one player says. “It was the best Overwatch since [the sequel] came out, and I actually had a good time.”

Last year, Blizzard announced that Overwatch 2 would be getting some 6v6 tests. Overwatch 2’s game director Aaron Keller even said that depending on the results of the tests, 6v6 could become a viable option in Overwatch 2’s future:

“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 says. “Whether that’s a world of 5v5, 6v6 or even both, is for future us to figure out.” So it’s possible that 6v6 has a shot, especially as Blizzard announced that the limited-time tests were so popular it decided to extend them so players could enjoy it for longer.

While I wouldn’t say an announcement concerning 6v6 is out of the question for the livestream, I think—and would prefer—us to get something in the ballpark of a talent system. Way back when Blizzard was promising a whole host of new traits and features for Overwatch 2’s release, one of the new concepts included skill trees and hero traits as well as new role passives.

One of the presentations at Blizzcon 2021 even showed off a new system that would let players evolve hero abilities through a skill tree into new diverse traits. “The talent system is really deep and rich,” Keller said during Blizzcon 2021. “Every single hero has different trees. You may open up [Soldier] 76’s tree, and as you’re leveling and picking new talents, you’re starting to feel your hero change.”

While this idea would later be scrapped alongside the promise of PvE, we did get a taste of what it would’ve been like via last year’s Junkenstein event. This offered players a new game mode that introduced the skill trees for a select number of heroes. It was a ton of fun, and I loved how you could customise hero abilities to suit different fights and team styles. I would love to see it incorporated into Overwatch 2 more seriously, even if that’s only through a recurring Arcade mode.

Whatever these big changes turn out to be, I really hope that they are as significant as Blizzard has hinted at them being. Overwatch 2 needs to adapt and evolve if it’s to compete against some of the big new releases like Marvel Rivals, which has managed to pull a ton of players, including my friends and I, away from Overwatch 2.

But I honestly think that Blizzard is ready to hold its own against some of the newer additions to the hero shooter genre. I got sent a survey to complete recently, and while it did kind of feel like a clingy ex asking me where it all went wrong, it also seemed like Blizzard was serious about taking the responses on board and using them to get a better feeling of community sentiment.

So, while I know better than to get my hopes up too high about the upcoming livestream, I am going to go into it with a little bit of hope that Overwatch 2 is kicking things up a gear, and won’t just go out lying down.