Blizzard's next Overwatch 2 event will take place in June

overwatch 2 wrecking ball bug
(Image credit: Blizzard)

Overwatch 2 is a little confusing. As Morgan put it last week after spending some time in the first beta, it's not actually "Overwatch 2," in the sense that it's not really a sequel but more like an expansion of the original Overwatch. It's a state of affairs that an awful lot of fans expecting a full-on new game aren't really happy with.

Despite that, Blizzard said today that it is "both humbled and inspired by the amount of interest and enthusiasm everyone has shown for Overwatch 2," and announced that the next public presentation of the game will take place on June 16.

"Overwatch as a world, as a universe, is deeply personal to the team; something that we pour our time, creative energies and passion into," game director Aaron Keller said. "It can be scary putting something that means so much to you out there for other people to look at. Especially when you know that it’s not finished and you’re asking for people’s real and valid criticisms of what you’ve made.

"But the reason we do it is important–to make a better game, and it’s our players and our community that make it possible. Tests like this are a vital part of the process of improving Overwatch. We can’t wait to take everything we’ve learned from the beta and apply it to the game, and we’re so excited to get it back in front of you."

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There's no indication in the blog post as to what exactly the June 16 stream will focus on, but Blizzard said on Twitter that it will "share our plan for the months ahead, including the next PvP beta." Overwatch 2 doesn't currently have a release date, but we're expecting it to show up sometime in 2023—although the decision to "decouple" the PvP and PvE portions could result in an earlier launch.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.