Overwatch's Beta Includes Everything From the Full Game Launch

While many beta tests offer a limited slice of what the game will offer, the ongoing Overwatch open beta includes everything that will be there when the full version launches later this month.

That's according to director Jeff Kaplan, who confirmed that on the official Blizzard forums. In response to a question about how the beta's content stacks up with the full game, he responded, "The version you are playing now is what will go live at launch (there will be some bug fixes, etc.)."

Currently, Overwatch features 21 characters, 12 maps, and four game modes. At least one feature that might have been available in the open beta (and at launch) is Competitive Play, the game's equivalent of ranked gameplay. This was available during the earlier closed beta, but Blizzard recently announced plans to remove it for the time being.

"We removed it from open beta because we received a ton of great feedback on how to improve the system," Kaplan continued. "We had a tough choice. It would have been awesome to have the feature in for open beta and launch. But we felt like we could really improve on some things so we opted to have the feature come out shortly after launch. We're hoping that our efforts in the closed beta to try to get things done quickly and at high quality aren't lost on our community--but we also never want to sacrifice the quality of the game by putting something live that isn't up to our standards."

Beyond the addition of Competitive Play, Blizzard also has plans for things to add after launch.

"We're also working on a TON of post-launch features and content. It's going to be a pretty amazing summer," Kaplan teased.

Overwatch's beta is now open to everyone on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. The game releases in full on May 24.