It’s that time again, folks. A new season of Overwatch 2 is about to get underway. While there’s no new map or hero this time, there are major changes coming to the game that will fundamentally change Overwatch 2. Hopefully for the better, but we’ll see. If you’re wondering exactly when Overwatch 2 Season 9: Champions will start, don’t worry: I’ve got you covered.
Season 9 of Overwatch 2 will go live on Tuesday, February 13. Unless there’s a last-minute hitch (such as a technical issue), the season should start at 2PM ET. You can click here to see when that is in your time zone.
If you play on PC and you have automatic downloads enabled on the Battle.net client, you may now see a message below the play button on the Overwatch 2 tab that reads “Pre-release content downloaded.” If so, the Season 9 patch should be installed on your PC, so you should be all set to start playing as soon as the season commences. Console players will have to wait until Season 9 goes live before they can download the patch and join the fun.
It’s worth noting that the Season 9 patch is a large one. Blizzard says you’ll need to have as much as 38 GB of free space on your system before you update. Otherwise, you can uninstall and reinstall Overwatch 2 after Season 9 goes live.
The reason for the large update size is that it’s a rebase patch. This means that patches are being consolidated into the core game files, which helps to keep “the final data size of the game client manageable for both PC and console” in the long run.
“We understand some of our players may have limited bandwidth or data to download large updates, and we apologize for any inconvenience that this causes you,” Blizzard said.
There are some things we know already about Season 9. There are massive changes coming to Competitive and core gameplay — for one thing, every hero is getting more health. You can read more about these changes here ahead of the full patch notes dropping:
There will of course be a new Battle Pass and skins to unlock too. The Season 9 Mythic skin is for Moira.
Elsewhere, there are a new co-op event mode and co-op Hero Mastery mode on the way in Season 9. Pharah and Junkertown are getting reworks. You can also expect new purchasable weapon skins, a Valentine’s Day event and a Cowboy Bebop crossover.
For more news and updates on Overwatch 2 and other games, follow my Forbes blog! You’ll get a weekly round-up email that includes everything I publish. You’d be doing me a solid, too — it’s a great way to support me and my work at no cost.
Read the full article here
