Overwatch: news and videos

There's a new Overwatch patch being tested on the PTR and it's a good'un. Blizzard is "drastically reducing the amount of duplicates player will receive when opening loot boxes" and, in line with that change, it is also "increasing the over...   read

Starting today, Overwatch aficionados can claim a free golden loot box if they're signed up for Amazon Prime. As part of Twitch's Prime Loot program, anyone who's linked their Twitch and Amazon Prime accounts together can claim th...   read

Today's Overwatch patch brings some big changes to the game, apart from the new Horizon Lunar Colony map that's now available on all three platforms. It seems that every major patch also tinkers with the hero balance, and this one's no exce...   read

Well, this is just the best. Anjali Bhimani, the voice of Symmetra, has rounded up her extended Overwatch family for one of life's greatest joys: a dance party! Watch the crew adorably recreate their dance emotes from the anniversary event...   read

Overwatch's anniversary event is coming to a close soon, but before that happens you can snag double the amount of experience for playing. The switch for XP was flipped last night, and will run until Monday June 12 at 11:59 PT. While people...   read

Overwatch has had an event or new content every month since its release, but for the first time this weekend, players can earn double experience just for playing as they would normally. The XP boost will be effective starting June 8 an...   read

After all of the excitement with the new lore-heavy level coming to Overwatch this week by way of the PTR, you might have missed a few other key changes. McCree got a straight buff for his ultimate, Reaper no longer sports those shiny ...   read

The next content update for Overwatch is a new Assault map, Horizon Lunar Colony, and it's playable starting today on the PC version's Public Test Realm. This Winston-narrated trailer will fill you in. "Built as a first step towards human...   read

In case you haven't heard, Overwatch Season 4 has ended its competitive run, and now has its sights set on Season 5. That begins on May 31 at 8PM ET, at which point you'll have roughly three months to work your way up the ranks to earn...   read

With this week's anniversary update, Overwatch overhauled its player vs. player elimination modes, adding three new maps and changing the rules for how matches will play out. The new rules are probably different than you're used to, so...   read

If you didn't hear the news, Overwatch turned one this week, and with that, a barrage of promotions are accompanying its various new skins and maps. Starting on Friday, May 26 at 11am Pacific and running through Monday, May 29 until just be...   read

It's hard to believe that Overwatch has not only been out for a year, but that it's one of Blizzard's biggest successes, and one of its only new IPs in over a decade. They're pushing hard when it comes to their global eSports presence,...   read

Some of my favorite memories growing up were heading with my family out to Everett, WA to watch the AquaSox play. The 'Sox is a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Seattle Mariners. It's where Ken Griffey Jr. hit his first profes...   read

Before many of us had even gotten our hands on Overwatch, Blizzard's animated shorts warmed us up to its characters, setting, and lore. Gosh, they're good -- not just on their own, as animation, but also as a way to better connect with and ...   read

Blizzard has begun teasing what's in store for the Overwatch anniversary event that's coming this Tuesday. Along with cosmetic unlocks, as you'd expect, we're also getting a trio of arena maps. These appear to be offshoots of existing maps...   read

Hard to believe, but we're coming up on one year of Overwatch. If you thought Blizzard would hold an in-game event, yep, you're right! But that's not all. The anniversary event itself will run from May 23 to June 12, though we don't yet kno...   read

Amazon listings point to Blizzard releasing two art books for its hit shooter Overwatch, as well as a collected, physical release of the game's comics. The Art of Overwatch ($50) has an October 24 release date on Amazon. There's also a $100...   read

Yesterday, we reported on Blizzard's upcoming Overwatch League and rumors that buying a team would cost somewhere in the ballpark of $20 million. ESPN was the original outlet to run the story, and it purports to have multiple sources who ha...   read

[Update: Blizzard sent over a lengthy response that can be seen here.] Starting a professional esports team can be an expensive venture. A spot in League of Legends' League Championship Series is going for $1.8 million. However, Blizza...   read

Blizzard is at it again with some reasonable changes for your favorite Overwatch characters -- especially if you're a Genji or Hanzo main. The brothers have had their wall climbing abilities buffed, so they can immediately attack after thei...   read

Overwatch released almost a year ago and it shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. There were 7 million players in the first week, 15 million by August, and 20 million by November. Its growth rate is steady as it keeps accumulating tota...   read

In addition to a few vague 'experiments' that he eluded to in a forum post, Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan notes that there are "six maps" in development, and that three of them will likely hit by the end of this year. Kaplan says that...   read

Overwatch pro Matt "Dellor" Vaughn has been dropped by Toronto Esports after the release of the above video, wherein Vaughn, angry at an online opponent, proceeds to scream at the top of his lungs (mind your computer volume level) and then...   read

Overwatch debuted another limited-time co-op mode this week called Uprising. If you haven't tried it yet, you should! I got a few rounds in last night and came away more convinced than ever that Blizzard should continue down this path and, ...   read

If I had a piggy bank full of Overwatch credits, I'd be fetching a comically oversized hammer right about now. The game's Uprising event begins today, and with it comes character skins, emotes, and other cosmetic rewards I desperately want...   read

Ahead of a planned full reveal and release tomorrow, a trailer for the next Overwatch event inadvertently popped up today. Aside from lots of alluring and surely bank-breaking new skins (check the gallery!), the update will bring a mode not...   read

Last year, Blizzard decided to take a German programmer by the name of Bossland to court for "copyright infringement." Its claim was that Bossland's cheat program, Watchover Tyrant, demonstrated unfair competition and was in violation of th...   read

What's this? An incoming Overwatch event? Blizzard is teasing a mysterious something for April 11, and with key points like "King's Row Uprising" and "Entered into record 7 years ago," it's hard not to be curious about what's in store for ...   read

As they've proven over the course of the past few decades on PC, Blizzard supports their games long term -- whether it's by way of more content, or just compatibility patches. I fully expect Overwatch to be around for a long time, and ...   read

It's not unusual to see a new character, in say, a MOBA, disabled from the roster until a week after their launch. As a lot of developers recognize, it can be jarring, jumping into a competitive mindset and having players first-pick the new...   read

A new PTR build is live for Overwatch, and it includes some big changes for Lucio. I'm hesitant to call them outright nerfs as a frequent Lucio player, but time will tell what it'll do to his win and pickrate. In short, his sonic amplifier ...   read

Overwatch's director Jeff Kaplan has a penchant for being very open with the game's community from the start. He might not say everything you want him to (especially in regards to balancing), but he typically fields questions all over, from...   read

After stating that Orisa needed a little more time in the Overwatch PTR to test out, she now has a date -- March 21. She'll hit all platforms at the same time, so you won't need to wait longer on PS4 or Xbox One. That level of parity i...   read

Blizzard has managed to turn Overwatch into a cross-media project without it ever seeming obnoxious. From the short films that rival Pixar in quality to the comic book series rife with many talented artists with different styles, it al...   read

As we know the PTR is a fickle thing, and so are the whims of users against the design intentions of a game's creators. Overwatch's team, even for Blizzard, is more open to suggestions from the community than the average project, and i...   read

It didn't take long at all for Blizzard to reveal Orisa, the latest Overwatch hero, but remaining patient for her to trot into the live game hasn't been quite so easy. While curious PC players have had time to experiment with the barrier-sl...   read

Ana has dominated the Overwatch scene for a while, but that may change when the next round of PTR changes hit (as a reminder, the PTR, or Public Test Region, is where the dev team tests their changes before they go live mostly for bugs...   read

Overwatch's newest member Orisa hit Blizzard's public test realm earlier this morning. I've been testing out the bot, and it seems like she'll be a great addition to the team. Read on and I'll go over her loadout and abilities.   read

Compared to the drawn-out reveal for Sombra, Blizzard's unveil for Overwatch's 24th hero, Orisa, is a pleasant surprise. We were only just trying to piece together her place in the fiction, and here she is! Orisa was created by Efi Oladele...   read

I know we're antsy for a new hero, but today's update for Overwatch on PC and consoles deals with the promised Game Browser and tweaks to characters like Bastion and Roadhog, among other changes. This video tells you most everything you ne...   read

What goes into creating a character's highlight intro for Overwatch? Far more than you might imagine. This annotated video from Blizzard senior animator David Gibson shrinks about four days worth of animation work in Autodesk Maya down to ...   read

There's been a lot of speculation lately that Overwatch's next hero might be coming sooner rather than later. Fans were thinking that the 24th addition to the roster might be the legendary Doomfist, and there was plenty of evidence to ...   read

Overwatch's third competitive season is drawing to a close, meaning players have just a few days left to work on their rank and earn points towards unlocking golden weapon skins. The season will end on February 21 at 4:00 PM Pacific time, o...   read

There was a time where nearly every PC FPS had some form of a GoldenEye type mod, or some effort was made to create it. Before Halo swept the nation and gave us MLG, GoldenEye 64 was the gateway drug into the FPS genre for fo...   read

Here is my solemn promise to you: I will not write an article about how much it sucks to be single on Valentine's Day. I am, so I know firsthand that it does. I also know that nobody likes to be reminded of how lonely they are, but (anecdot...   read

Alongside the Roadhog and Winston changes in the latest PTR patch, Bastion also received a few tweaks. While we've known for awhile now that the changes would focus on making his sentry and tank mode transformations more viable, things migh...   read

Blizzard shared some patch notes three days ago in what I'm referring to as the "Bastion patch." Currently in PTR, the update adds CTF to the mix, as well as a server browser. In terms of hero changes the big alterations involve Bastion, wh...   read

Overwatch's current seasonal event, Year of The Rooster, added a Capture the Flag mode that proved to be quite popular. So popular, in fact, that game director Jeff Kaplan went back on his previous claim that CTF would be limited to the run...   read

YouTuber LaserGadgets was inspired to make some weapons by last year's hit game Overwatch. The difference between the guns he made and those made by most other cosplayers is that his actually work. Overwatch's breakout character ...   read

As I was just saying the other day, Overwatch's Bastion is woefully underrepresented at the pro level. The robot just isn't up to snuff given how easy it is to counter, and only really sees play on Watchpoint: Gibraltar. Blizzard is seeking...   read