Overwatch 2 Spotlight: A New Era of Innovation and Excitement

Welcome to 2025! This will be one of Overwatch’s most significant years so far, and we can’t wait to have you all dive into the updates coming your way. In our continued drive to be the best competitive team-based hero shooter, this year will see a variety of updates that improve gameplay, update competitive rewards, introduce all new experiences, new metas, new heroes, key Quality of Life updates, and some of the best cosmetics we’ve ever made.

Check out the OW2 Spotlight keynote, where we highlight just some of the great stuff coming over the first few Seasons of the year, and check out below for a short round-up of everything we revealed.

Coming when Season 15 launches on February 18 is a significant innovation to core gameplay of Overwatch: Perks! These hero-specific bonuses level up gameplay, allowing you to customize your strategies like never before. You will be able to choose from different upgrades to your hero's kit, creating new options to either cement your team's victory or to turn the tide away from a potential defeat.

Throughout the match, you’ll level up your hero two times. The first level-up is a choice between two minor Perks that are lighter upgrades, such as small passives or cooldown reductions. For example, Torbjorn will have the choice between his Forge Hammer restoring the armor health of your teammates, or refilling Rivet Gun’s ammo when activating Overload.

Major Perks are gameplay-shifting changes and redefining what your hero is capable of. Torbjorn will be able to choose from anchoring your turret to walls and ceilings, or a more powerful level 3 turret. Both options give you new strategies to dominate the match.

The OW2 Spotlight showcases even more examples of how Perks will be changing the very core of how you approach Overwatch 2 when they become available in both Competitive and Quick Play, starting in Season 15. We’ll have even more details in the coming days, so stay tuned!

Launching in Season 16 in April, Stadium is the biggest game mode we’ve ever made. In fact, this is more than just a game mode, it is an entirely new way to experience Overwatch.

In Stadium’s best-of-7 system, you’ll earn in-game Stadium coins each round to unlock and customize abilities for your heroes. These powerful upgrades will be able to alter your survivability and damage while even completely revamping your hero’s abilities. Stadium is packed with transformative powers and strategic encounters that enhance the hero fantasy beyond anything we've released, focused on letting you play how you want. 

Reinhardt flying through the air to charge behind the enemy line before unleashing a lava-spreading Firestrike. Soldier:76 buffing attack speed of allies standing within Biotic Field. A triple kunai throwing Kiriko that can teleport to enemies. Or a battle Mercy that not only can clear the battlefield of enemies, but has a shield to protect fallen allies while being resurrected. All of that (and more) are possible in Stadium!

Beyond amazing new abilities that come together in the ultimate Hero builds, Stadium also includes the option to choose how you play in either first-person or an entirely new third-person perspective. In third-person, you will be able to see more of the battlefield and the direct impact your upgraded abilities (and those of your teammates and enemies) have in action, such as the lava trail left behind your D.Va mech while you fly through a map.

To help you navigate all of these new features, Stadium offers a revamped user interface, intuitive icons, and incredible visual effects. You’ll be able to seamlessly review, buy, and sell your mods, as well as see the builds on the opposing team to maximize your strategy round to round. 

There will be at least 14 core heroes when Stadium launches with Season 16. Over time, we’ll add more heroes, new maps, and modes, all while reviewing your feedback to help ensure the best evolution of Stadium. Stay tuned, as we will reveal more details over the coming months!

Welcome Freja, the newest addition to the Overwatch 2 roster! A former search and rescue operative turned bounty hunter, Freja brings a new dynamic to the game with her explosive crossbow and unique abilities. You can expect a challenging and rewarding experience, as she requires precision and a steady aim to master. 

Unload a flurry of rapid-fire bolts with her Revdraw Crossbow to keep the pressure on your enemies.

Slow it down with Take Aim to line up the perfect shot and fire a high-speed explosive bolt that’ll turn targets into fireworks. 

Quick Dash in any direction to reload your explosive bolt and leave your enemies in the dust. 

Launch yourself sky-high with an Updraft of wind. Catch those rooftop campers or get a bird’s-eye view before you strike. 

And finally, snag an enemy with an explosive Bola Shot. Wrap them up and pull in their unlucky teammates for the ultimate combo play.

Freja will join Overwatch 2 in Season 16, but you’ll get a taste of her kit during a free trial weekend later in Season 15. More details on that trial will be announced later.

After Freja comes Hero 44, currently codenamed Aqua. Aqua is a Chinese hero, wielding water-based abilities that can manipulate the battlefield with an innovative playstyle. We’ll reveal more details on Aqua ahead of his release in Season 18.

Season 15 launches on February 18, and with it, the start of the 2025 Competitive Season!  This season will feature a ranked reset, and new competitive Galactic Weapons designed to give players the power of the stars, competitive rank Weapon Charms, and new Player Portraits, all allowing you to display your skills in and out of matches. 

After Season 15 kicks off, you will be able to take part in a new 6v6 competitive queue as well as Overwatch Classic: GOATS, one of the most notorious and memorable periods from Overwatch’s history.

Season 15 also features the return of loot boxes. You will be able to earn a variety of cosmetics when collecting loot boxes. They will be available from weekly and event rewards, as well as earning 1 Legendary Loot box in the Free Battle Pass, and an additional 2 Legendary Loot boxes in the Premium Battle Pass. When opening loot boxes, we want to be transparent in your chances of getting various types of cosmetics. In addition to the below drop rates, to ensure you always have a chance to receive some truly great items, we are guaranteeing that a Rare or better item will drop in every single box, with an Epic item within five consecutive boxes and a Legendary item within twenty consecutive boxes. 

Loot Boxes	Legendary Loot Boxes
Legendary - 5.10%	Legendary - 100%
Epic - 21.93%	Epic - 21.93%
Rare - 96.26%	Rare - 96.26%
Common - 97.97%	Common - 97.97%

More on Season 15 will be revealed when the season launch blog is released next week!

After Season 15, various new systems will be introduced to further improve everyone's experience with Overwatch 2. In Season 16, we’ll implement Hero Bans in Competitive. Later this year, there will also be a new Map Voting system to allow you a voice in where your matches take place, giving you agency in determining where your team battles for victory. Hero Bans target strong or frustrating heroes, while Map Voting lets players choose their preferred maps, adding a new layer of strategy to the game.

These are just a few of the many systems being worked on, and we can’t wait to share more details with you soon.

The Skins coming throughout this year are truly special.  In Season 15, you can acquire the Pixiu Zenyatta Mythic Hero Skin and Widowmaker Mythic Weapon. Then in Season 16, you’ll be able to bask in the all-new DokiWatch-themed skins, including a Juno Mythic Hero Skin and Mercy Mythic Weapon.  

Season 17 will introduce the D.VA Mythic Hero Skin—inspired by the Siberian tiger, South Korea’s national animal—and the new Mythic Weapon designed to capture the allure of corruption that turned Gabriel Reyes into the fearsome Reaper.

Of course, the first few Seasons of 2025 aren’t just about mesmerizing Mythic Skins. We have some of the most incredible collaborations we’ve ever done lined up, starting with the return of LE SSERAFIM in Season 15!

From Perks to Stadium; Mythic Zenyatta to Mythic D.Va; Overwatch Classic: GOATS; the first stage of the OWCS 2025 Season; to grinding through the new Competitive Year; this is only a fraction of what we are working on for 2025, encompassing just the first few seasons. We will share more features, cosmetics, heroes, updates, and more throughout this year. But be sure to watch the full OW2 Spotlight video to see everything that we have revealed today. Overwatch 2 is a labor of love celebrating this brilliant and passionate community, and we are so excited for the bright future that begins now!