Blizzard Entertainment previously announced that Overwatch would be unplayable once Overwatch 2 is released, with the latter replacing the former. The last day for the hero shooter has now been confirmed – October 2nd, Pacific Standard Time.
Speaking to Eurogamer, commercial lead Jon Spector revealed that servers would go down “roughly a day” before the launch of Overwatch 2. “So that means, as a practical point, that October 2nd is the last day to go in and play Overwatch 1. And then it’s a 27-hour downtime that we’re planning to get the Overwatch 2 server stood up and running.
“We’ll give current Overwatch players the ability to download Overwatch 2 a little bit ahead of when we launch if they want to pre-download. There are also a couple of things that we’ll be asking players to do, to get ready for Overwatch 2. We’ll share a kind of launch checklist with players ahead of things so that they have a smooth experience getting in on October 4th, when we launch.”
During the downtime, the development team will update all servers at the backend to support the launch of Overwatch 2. If you have Overwatch 1 installed then the sequel is “basically an update from a systems perspective,” says Spector. “You’ll see, ‘Update the game to Overwatch 2‘ as an option on your PC or console. If you’re a new player, you’ll see on October 4th, the ability to come in and download and play Overwatch 2 for free.”
Overwatch 2 will launch six new maps and Push along with three new heroes. Junker Queen and Sojourn are available from the outset, while Kiriko, the recently revealed Support hero, is immediately available for Overwatch 1 players and Season 1 Premium Battle Pass owners. Those who don’t purchase the Premium Pass must unlock her at Tier 55 of the free pass. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.