Overwatch’s Next Major Patch Will Require Full Reinstall

The next patch for Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch is going to be a big one. Though the development team didn’t exactly say what would be in it, it’s going to be major enough to warrant a full reinstall for the current game. This was revealed on the official forums by Drakuloth in Customer Support.

“The next major patch will have some pretty fundamental changes to the game client,” said Drakuloth. “The number of back-end changes we’re putting in is substantial enough that we can’t just patch over the current content efficiently. As a result, when the next patch comes out, the client will fully reinstall itself to handle these changes. We know that this isn’t ideal for people on metered connections, so hopefully this announcement helps you prepare for this coming update.”

Though the large download that will be required is annoying, Blizzard does consider this a “remaster” patch of sorts. According to an email received by Kotaku, it will not only improve load times and optimize memory for more “constrained systems”, but also fix bugs across numerous maps. The PS4 version will also use reduced hard drive space.

Interestingly enough, if you’re on PC and downloaded the PTR version of the game (which currently has new hero Ashe available for testing), then the overall download will be “significantly smaller”. The patch doesn’t currently have a release date or time, but if you’ve been dissatisfied with performance, then this could be the answer to your prayers. Stay tuned for more information on when the patch goes live.