Overwatch 2 Will Run A Few 6v6 Experiments Aimed At Addressing Queue Times Should The Mode Ever Become Permanent Again

As the year closes, Overwatch 2 added a new hero in Hazard and has started experimenting with the possible return of 6v6 to the popular hero-shooter. Both are receiving updates and more "experiments" in 2025 according to the latest "Director's Take" from Aaron Keller.

While Hazard has been well received, the team wasn't exactly thrilled with Hazard's unmirrored win rate on PC or on consoles. Improving consistency with Bonespur, strengthening his Spike Guard, improving his Vault passive, and reducing some of the less-fun aspects of fighting an enemy Hazard seems to have fixed the issue. These changes all came with the game's latest patch.

More interesting to me, though, are the planned future experiments Blizzard will dive into when it comes to 6v6. Currently, the mode has the old 2-2-2 role queue with a few changes in passives for balance purposes. That role queue always has timing issues in the past, though. No one likes waiting for long periods of time to get into a match. Blizzard will be running a 6v6 test next year that changes the queue requirements. Instead, players can select up to 3 players in the same role category, as long as the team has at least 1 of each role in their squad. They're calling it "Max 3, Min 1."

According to Keller, "The goal with this rule set is to allow greater freedom of hero choice while still ensuring that each team has a semi-balanced roster. If we were to ever make 6v6 a permanent part of the game, this version would eliminate the queue time issues that we had in the past. This Max 3, Min 1 ruleset will come later this season and could have some balance tweaks based off of the current 6v6 mode."

That should be an interesting experiment and I kind of love that Keller stills says "if" the 6v6 mode ever became permanent. Come on, we know it is going to at this point, let's tear down that facade at this point.

By the way, don't forget, if you haven't done your Overwatch 2 holiday challenge yet, go get that done for three free wintery-themed cosmetics.