Overwatch

On March 12th, Overwatch 2 is bringing Cowboy Bebop to the game, and you’ll be able to unlock skins for the Bebop crew: Spike Spiegel as Cassidy, Faye Valentine as Ashe, Jet Black as Mauga, Ed as Sombra, while the adorable corgi Ein gets a Wreckingball skin. The detail that went into these legendary skins is blowing my mind. Cassidy’s gun is modeled off Spike’s iconic Swordfish ship. Ashe’s Faye skin transforms her robot companion (and ultimate ability) B.O.B. into Faye’s ship, the Redtail. In addition to the skins, there…

As Overwatch 2 kicks off its crossover with ’90s sci-fi anime Cowboy Bebop today (March 7), we caught up with Overwatch art director Dion Rogers to learn more about the combination. Though this is Blizzard’s first Cowboy Bebop crossover, Rogers told NME that the team behind Overwatch are “huge fans” of the anime, and it inspired some of the game’s visuals during development. “Cowboy Bebop has an amazing art style blending various artistic influences film noir, westerns and science fiction,” shared Rogers. “The anime’s…

Ahead of its release on February 13, Blizzard has released the full patch notes for Overwatch 2's Season 9: Champions. The patch brings an all-new co-op event, and both old and new skins to commemorate Valentine's Day. This update also includes an immense number of hero changes, including increases to Ultimate ability costs, passive health regeneration, and higher damage for melee attacks.Season 9 of Overwatch will soft reset every player's Competitive rank and reintroduces placement matches to better…

Activision Blizzard has said it is hoping to “revitalise”  Overwatch 2 with its newest update. Overwatch 2’s season nine launches tomorrow (February 13) and in an expansive blog, Activision Blizzard have detailed a number of changes that are designed to “revitalise the Overwatch 2 experience”. According to developers, the driving force behind this next batch of updates was to “make PvP gameplay more rewarding and fun and provide greater transparency for players in-game”. Season 9: Champions will introduce a new ranking…

Overwatch 2 Season 9: Champions launches on February 13, bringing massive gameplay changes and an overhaul of the competitive mode. The gameplay changes include an increase to all heroes' health pools and an increase in size for all projectiles.Season 9 of Overwatch 2 is shaking up the gameplay of the hero shooter in a major way. Detailed in a press release, the biggest changes are to hero health pools and projectile sizes. You need a javascript enabled browser to watch…

Blizzard has shared a trailer for Overwatch 2 Season 9: Champions, which includes a tease for a Cowboy Bebop crossover. Season 9 also brings an overhaul to the competitive mode, along with an eldritch horror-inspired battle pass.Overwatch 2 Season 9: Champions arrives on February 13, bringing a complete overhaul to competitive mode, including a true rank reset for all players. The main changes come from the ranks themselves and how they are tracked match-to-match. You no longer need to hit certain…

We are, as the kids say, so friggin’ back.In November, the Overwatch League announced its end after six seasons. At the time, Overwatch League associate PR manager John Nomis said, “We are transitioning from the Overwatch League and evolving competitive Overwatch in a new direction,” confirming that while the League itself was dead, Overwatch esports would return. Today, we know what shape competitive Overwatch will take in 2024 with the announcement of the Overwatch Champions Series or the OWCS.“The OWCS is our new…

Blizzard has revealed the next evolution of top-level Overwatch 2 esports after the demise of the Overwatch League. The publisher has teamed up with ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) to run the new Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) under an exclusive multi-year agreement.OWCS is an open-format circuit in which teams from North America; Europe, Middle East, North Africa (EMEA); and Asia can compete without having to pay multi-million-dollar franchise fees. EFG will operate the Overwatch Champions Series in North America and EMEA,…

Overwatch 2’s game director has admitted it was a “mistake” to announce contentious plans for self-healing “out of context”. Last week, Blizzard announced a huge number of changes coming to Overwatch 2 as part of its Season 9 update. As part of the planned update, both tank and damage heroes will be given a “modified, tuned-down version of the support self-healing passive”, with many players worried that this change will ruin the carefully balanced team dynamics that have always been an integral part of Overwatch 2.…

Damage and Tank heroes will be getting a self-heal passive ability in Season 9 of Overwatch 2. This major change will see non-support heroes get an automatic heal passive, which kicks in after not taking damage for a short period of time.Announced by Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller in a blog post, the new passive ability will be added as part of Season 9, which kicks off in early February. Support heroes already have this passive ability, though it's much stronger. The version being given to the…