Announced during the Overwatch Spotlight 2026 broadcast, Blizzard’s seminal hero shooter Overwatch 2 will now be called simply Overwatch. They’ve dropped the “2” in the title.
“Overwatch is more than just a digit: it’s a living universe that keeps growing,” the press release said, as Overwatch (2026) (not to be confused with the previous Overwatch (2016)) will also be resetting the season count. The next season in Overwatch will be Season 1, starting February 11.
The drop of the number 2 essentially kills off the lingering vestiges of the original Overwatch 2. When first announced, it was positioned as a new standalone game that features story-based, repeatable co-op missions. The original Overwatch, which was also a premium game which required a purchase, would’ve been still playable, as the multiplayer mode of Overwatch and Overwatch 2 would be in parity. Closer to the launch of Overwatch 2, the team pivoted by scrapping the PVE co-op mode entirely and focused on the redesigned 5V5 PVP mode with designated team compositions (as opposed to the 6V6 with free choice of how many DPS, tanks, supports and the depreciated Defence-class heroes one team can have). Overwatch 2 also launched as a free-to-play game instead of paid model, adopting currently acceptable monetisation model featuring battle passes and premium cosmetics.
With the many changes of what’s included in Overwatch 2 since its initial reveal, Overwatch 2 could’ve been an update, in fact it was, despite having to shut down the original Overwatch client. But this puts a bow in the death of the original vision of Overwatch 2, as the current Overwatch team has firmly decided to just make… Overwatch.
(A little tangent, this is slightly different case to Bungie’s Destiny 2, which players only refer to as just Destiny. They can’t drop the “2” on that one as the original Destiny is still alive, with servers remaining online, and there was enough gameplay shake-up that it can still be enjoyed as its own separate game.)
Overwatch (2026) is kicking off this their new old self with a massive flow of content. There will be 10 new heroes to be added in 2026, half of them will go live in Season 1 alone. The new cast includes Jetpack Cat who is a literal cat with a jetpack that can permanently fly (pour one out for Pharah). Season 2 to Season 6 will have one hero added in each of them.
The five new heroes coming to Season 1 of Overwatch (2026) are:
- Domina (Tank) – poke tank similar to Sigma. Not a Talon member but have business ties with them
- Emre (Damage) – run-and-gunner. Former Overwatch Strike Team who lost faith and now buddies with Vendetta
- Mizuki (Support) – technical healer with a ricocheting hat. Part of Talon-aligned Hashimoto clan
- Anran (Damage) – Overwatch team, older sister to Wuyang. Uses hand fans to fan her fire-based firepower (a contrast to his brother’s water-themed kit)
- Jetpack Cat (Support) – Overwatch team, a cat with a jetpack, can permanently fly, heal and fire from above, tow allies and throw enemies.
The UI and UX of new Overwatch has also been improved.
And for the lorehounds, the game previously known as Overwatch and Overwatch 2 will have a yearlong narrative arc highlighting the in-game world’s evil group Talon. The live storytelling will unfold “in real time” so expect to get nuggets of new lore and story from in-game as well as external media via hero trailers, animated comics and short stories.
Overwatch will also be available on Switch 2 soon, and is currently available on consoles and PC.