Overwatch 2 beta announced for April, will be PVP focused

Since Overwatch 2's announcement back during BlizzCon 2019, Blizzard Entertainment has not been very open about the game's development state, and the indefinite launch delay from last year did not help matters. However, in a developer update video today, Game Director Aaron Keller announced the studio will be much more forthcoming with news and updates from now on, while also revealing an upcoming beta.

While the full game will be focused on both player versus player and cooperative play modes, the beta will be solely competitive play focused. In Overwatch 2, the player count is being dropped to Five versus Five, Sojourn is incoming as a new hero, Circuit Royal, Midtown, New Queen Street, and Colosseo are incoming as new maps, alongside reworks for Orisa, Doomfist, Bastion, and Sombra. The new Push game mode as well as a pinging system will be a part of the beta too.

While there is an early build available to Blizzard employees and Overwatch pros right now, regular players will have to wait until late April for their chance to jump in. Sign-ups are available here, with waves of invites going out once the beta festivities begin. Keep in mind this is only for PC players.

Blizzard will continue to develop the four-player cooperative mode of Overwatch 2 while the player versus player content is brought over to the community first, decoupling the two halves. The hero shooter still does not have a release date, but fans of the series should soon have some new content to enjoy while waiting for a full release.