During the reveal of Overwatch 2 at the Xbox and Bethesda Game Showcase, Blizzard Entertainment said more information on the game would be detailed during a reveal event which is actually slated to stream today (June 16th) starting at 1 p.m. ET.
During its time in the spotlight at the Xbox event, Blizzard revealed that Overwatch 2 is releasing on October 4th, but not as a fully finished release. Instead, it will be released through Early Access which will also be a Free-to-Play experience. The reason for an Overwatch 2-focused event comes in two parts. Firstly, they were seemingly limited on time during the 95-minute showcase, so it was probably better for their own event to go over more details for the Overwatch faithful who are interested and want to watch.
The other reason may be news on the game’s upcoming closed beta demo on June 28th which is assumed to be where the company will reveal how console players on Xbox can sign up for the beta. Seeing how it will be limited to a certain number of players through invite-only, it will probably be first come first served, if it’s anything like the recent PC beta. As for what to expect from the upcoming closed beta, we’ll probably get a chance to play as one of the game’s recently revealed new characters, Junker Queen, who was shown off during the Xbox event in both cinematics and a bit of gameplay.
Overwatch 2 was originally revealed back in 2019 as a sequel to its initial long-running 2016 game. It was initially planned to release late last year but was pushed to 2022, and then later to 2023. The early access version of the game seems to be Blizzard’s way of giving something new for players to dive into this year. Back in April, some players, streamers and press got a chance to play a PvP portion of the game during a PC open beta.
How to watch the Overwatch 2 event:
The Overwatch 2 reveal event is set to stream later today at 1 p.m. ET on Overwatch’s official Twitch and Youtube channels.
