Overwatch 2 Reducing Team Sizes To 5v5, Including The Original Game

Blizzard's Overwatch 2 "What's Next" stream has revealed a major gameplay change coming to its upcoming hero shooter. Rather than having standard matches played with six-player teams, Overwatch 2 will shift to 5v5 matches in PvP.

The 5v5 structure will consist of one tank, two support, and two DPS players per team. That's a major change from the 6v6 matches of the original game. But with Overwatch and Overwatch 2's multiplayer being compatible with one another, Blizzard confirmed to GameSpot that this change will also be introduced to the original game. However, that change won't happen until Overwatch 2 releases, whenever that might be.

Following the 5v5 announcement, the stream then went on to show new content, like the New York City hybrid map. It includes some landmarks like Grand Central Station.

No release date has been announced for Overwatch 2, though this is the first major update we've received since game director Jeff Kaplan announced he was leaving Blizzard in April. The game director role was taken over by Aaron Keller, who cohosted the What's Next stream alongside associate art director Dion Rogers and lead hero designer Geoff Goodman.