It’s almost time for Overwatch 2: Invasion, and PC players can get ready for the new season by preloading the patch on Battle.net or, for the first time, on Steam. You can get ready to jump into the latest season on Steam Deck as well.
Things should be pretty simple for current Overwatch 2 players. If you have automatic downloads switched on in the Battle.net client, you may already see a message below the Play button on the Overwatch 2 tab that reads “Pre-release content downloaded.” That means the patch is already on your PC and the client will install it after the season goes live at 3PM ET on August 10.
If you don’t have automatic downloads enabled, you’ll need to download the Invasion launch update manually. After 3PM tomorrow, click the gear icon next to the play button, then select Check for Updates to install the patch.
When Invasion goes live, Overwatch 2 will be available on Steam for the first time. Blizzard is starting to bring its games to Valve’s PC storefront, and Overwatch 2 is the first one to make the jump over from Battle.net.
Pre-installing Overwatch 2 on Steam is a cinch too. You can add it to your library like any other game and install it now. Then, you should be good to go as soon as the clock hits 3PM ET (as long as there are no major server issues).
The process is pretty much the same on Steam Deck. I jumped through some hoops to install Battle.net and Overwatch 2 on my Deck ages ago, but never actually played it there. Oops.
Blizzard told me last year that Overwatch 2 doesn’t have kernel-level anti-cheat tools that make it impossible to play games like Destiny 2 on Steam Deck without resorting to workarounds. Given the relatively low minimum spec requirements of Overwatch 2, it will probably run just fine on the Deck.
There’s one other thing you’ll need to do before you can play Overwatch 2: Invasion on Steam or Steam Deck. You have to link your Steam account to a Battle.net account. You actually can do that right now so you’re all set to start playing as soon as possible tomorrow.
On the Connections page of your Battle.net settings, look for Steam in the Connected Accounts section and click Connect. Blizzard will then send you to the Steam website. Enter your Steam credentials if you aren’t already logged in, then click sign in.
If everything goes as it should, you’ll then be taken back to the Battle.net settings page and see a message reading “Successfully retrieved your Steam account details.” Click continue to finish the process. You’ll also get an email confirmation that your accounts are connected.
Make sure you’re connecting the correct Steam and Battle.net accounts. Otherwise, you’ll need to wait a year before you can link a new Steam account to Battle.net.
Unfortunately, Overwatch 2 console players can’t preinstall the Invasion patch. You’ll need to wait until the season goes live before your system installs the update.
There is so much to look forward to in Invasion, which is clearly a big step forward for Overwatch 2. I can’t wait to finally be able to talk all about it. Not long to go now.
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