Skip to main content

Overwatch 2 is coming this year and it’ll be free-to-play

Summer Gaming Marathon Feature Image
This story is part of our Summer Gaming Marathon series.

After years of hearing nothing until recently on the Overwatch 2 front, we finally get a new hero announcement, confirmation on a free-to-play launch, and a release date for October 4.

This news comes straight from Activision Blizzard’s new home, Xbox’s Games Showcase where the new hero Junker Queen made her appearance.

Release Date Reveal | Overwatch 2

Overwatch 2 is the long-awaited follow-up to the original Overwatch, a game that helped put hero-shooters on the map. The game was delayed and has gone radio silent many times due to the controversies surrounding Activision Blizzard. Now with Xbox set to own the company, it’s finally sharing more details including the new character.

Recommended Videos

Junker Queen is a new tank class character that utilizes a shotgun as her main weapon and a two-handed ax as her melee tool. The trailer hints at her abilities being a dash attack and throwing ax that she can recall back to her hand. She also has a design that is very obviously inspired by the Mad Max series.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

We weren’t shown only a new hero but also got confirmation that Overwatch 2 will be a free-to-play title. However, the entire package won’t be going without charge. The trailer shown during the showcase shared that only the player-vs-player modes of the game are included on the free-to-play side. This most likely means that other separate modes, including a story mode, will come at an additional charge.

Overwatch 2‘s free-to-play PvP mode is finally set to launch for early access on October 4, 2022. It’s still unconfirmed when the rest of the package will release.

DeAngelo Epps
Former Digital Trends Contributor
De'Angelo Epps is a gaming writer passionate about the culture, communities, and industry surrounding gaming. His work ranges…
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is more than Xbox’s Uncharted
Indiana Jones rappels into a tomb in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Creating an Indiana Jones video game is a daunting task. It’s not just that you have to honor an iconic film franchise that fans are very protective of; you also need to make it stand out from Uncharted, a beloved series that is already ostensibly a thinly veiled Indiana Jones adaptation. It’s a challenge, but one that MachineGames seems to have cracked with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Ahead of its latest trailer reveal at Gamescom Opening Night Live, I got a deeper look into the upcoming action-adventure game. While previous looks have focused on story, the latest presentation gives a much deeper look into its combat, exploration, and more. While there are some parallels to Uncharted, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle feels more indebted to Wolfenstein, Hitman, and even The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. That makes it feel much more like an Indiana Jones game than a boilerplate tomb-raiding adventure.
Tools of the trade
Set after Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Great Circle begins at Marshall College, where someone steals a priceless relic. Jones teams up with photojournalist Gina to recover it, only to discover that there’s a wider conspiracy at play that goes through Nazi territory. With the help of some companions, they set out on a globe-trotting adventure that involves the villainous Emmerich Voss and the titular Great Circle, a ring that connects the world’s biggest landmarks (an idea that came from producer Todd Howard).

Read more
3 years after its reveal, Arc Raiders reemerges as a completely different game
A player character in Arc Raiders.

When Arc Raiders was first announced at the 2021 Game Awards, it was a free-to-play co-operative shooter. That's changed.

It's not unheard of for games to change direction after they are announced, with Fortnite's transition from its Save the World mode to a battle royale during early access being one of the most prominent examples. Still, those looking forward to Arc Raiders should know that what they will be getting when the game launches next year is not what was originally shown off.

Read more
Everything announced at THQ Nordic Showcase 2024: Wreckfest 2, Gothic, and more
Two cars crash in Wreckfest 2.

While most major video game showcases tend to happen in June, we just got one more to kick off August. THQ Nordic held its annual digital showcase focusing on a handful of the publisher's upcoming games.

The broadcast takes place ahead of this year's Gamescom, where THQ Nordic will be demoing several of the projects shown during today's showcase. While the show wasn't jam-packed with announcements, it did provide a deep dive into five games, including the newly announced Wreckfest 2 and the upcoming Gothic remake. Ahead of the show, Digital Trends attended a pre-briefing event and learned more details on each title. Here's everything that was revealed at THQ Nordic's 2024 Showcase.
Wreckfest 2 brings more customization

Read more