Overwatch brings back 6v6 role-queue following player feedback
Overwatch is committing to 6v6 alongside 5v5
Overwatch is introducing a new 6v6 mode in response to player feedback.
6v6 role queue is coming to Overwatch‘s competitive mode on December 8. This will be in addition to 5v5 role queue and 6v6 open queue, so no game modes have been removed to make room for it.
It comes after Blizzard initially made the game-wide switch to 5v5 in 2023, whether it was open queue or role queue. This was met with backlash, so eventually, 6v6 came back, replacing 5v5 open queue. However, many players have wanted 6v6 to have its own role queue option too, as it did during the original Overwatch’s run.
“There will be three Competitive options of the game available on Day 1 of Season 6: our standard 5v5, Open Queue 6v6, and our Role Queue 6v6 test,” the announcement reads. “The 2-2-2 Role Queue Competitive mini season will start at season launch and run for the first four weeks of the season.”
For now, this is just a test to see how the playerbase takes to this implementation of 6v6 role queue. Elsewhere in the blog post, Blizzard says that this wasn’t done sooner because the team is fearful that it will increase queue times, so it remains to be seen if that pans out here.
“We realise that adding Role Queue 6v6 may have some impact on queue times, both for that mode and other modes”, the post continues. “Adding Role Queue 6v6 instead of replacing an existing queue should be better overall for our community. There are also some matchmaking changes shipping with Season 6 that we theorise will keep queue times more manageable. As always, our team will be carefully monitoring those times to ensure everything stays healthy!”
Blizzard has found itself with a lot to juggle now. While Overwatch veterans seem to overwhelmingly be in support of 6v6 taking over, there’s now a whole demographic of younger players who have only known 5v5 as the default. Managing to keep both sides happy while keeping queue times down will certainly prove challenging.
Overwatch season 6 starts on December 8.
