Fierce battles await, and the hunt begins for epic new rewards in Overwatch® 2’s latest season. We’re bringing the newest Tank hero Mauga, festive holiday events, new Hero Mastery courses, and new rewards packed in a beast hunter-themed season. Overwatch 2 – Season 8: Call of the Hunt kicks off December 5, so keep reading to find out what’s in store!

Mauga is Here and Ready to Party

Players got to see and play Mauga in action during BlizzCon 2023, but now he’s here for good as the newest Tank hero you can unlock in Overwatch 2. Armed with dual chainguns that will burn and burst down your enemies, Mauga is a fierce tactician that you will want to watch out for. He can charge through enemies and come crashing down on them with Overrun, reinforce his team with his Cardiac Overdrive, and even brawl in close-quarter combat with his powerful Cage Fight ultimate. We’ve watched how he performed, listened to your feedback, and made some adjustments to make him stand out even more. We’re g...

Overwatch® 2 Content Creators are some of the best players in our community. Whether showing off their awesome skills, creating awesome custom games, or building incredible experiences with their fans, they bring Overwatch 2 to thousands of viewers worldwide on Twitch. This is why we’re celebrating our Content Creators through the return of Twitch Support-A-Streamer for Overwatch 2!

From November 30 through December 10, support your favorite eligible streamers when you subscribe or gift subscriptions on their channel, and you will receive the Epic Bird of Paradise Echo skin that will unlock in-game!

Event Duration

From November 30 at 11:00 a.m. PST until December 10 at 11:59 p.m. PST. 

How to Participate 

Log in to your Twitch account (if necessary, first create a Twitch account for free at Twitch.tv)

Visit one of the eligible participating Twitch channels listed below

While the channel is live streaming Overwatch, subscribe or gift a cumulative of two (2) subscriptions of a...

This is one of two remaining Director's Take Blogs for 2023! We'll release another one in two weeks and take the last part of the year off for the holiday season before we pick back up again in the new year. I'll be writing this one in a sort of turkey-induced fever dream and the next one just after we launch Season 8. This is when we'll release our newest hero Mauga, along with quite a few balance changes for the game. We'll take a look at those changes and touch on a few other topics as well.

We're making a general change to the amount of ult charge retained when swapping heroes, reducing it from 25% to 15%. We do like that this mechanic removes friction when swapping heroes, and think that it still should at 15%. However, there is a perception that it's almost always an advantage to counter-swap upon dying, and we're lowering this value to see if it has an effect on swap rates.

Let's look at changes coming to some of our heroes for Season 8, starting with some of the larger ch...

A little event happened two weeks ago, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it… and all of you were too. BlizzCon isn't just for those who attend the show in person, it's also a time when we get to connect with fans around the world and show off more of the game than we normally do, and this year we even ran an event in-game with a playable version of our just announced hero, Mauga. I'd like to run through the show - this is partially a recap, a correction to misunderstandings around announcements we made, and a bit of a sentimental journey. If you're not into that and just want the deets on Mauga changes, skip to paragraph 3 (don’t worry, I won't mind).

Let's start with Clash. We announced our next new game mode as well as one of the maps, Hanaoka, which will be part of its debut. Watching through some of the videos that people made off of our introduction to the mode, it was clear that I talked waaaaay too long about 2CP, but it also felt like there was some confusion over mat...

You all are the best community the Overwatch team could ever ask for.  Throughout the years, you have shared not only your passion for Overwatch but also your creativity through fan art, cosplay, and talent. So this year, we’re excited to revive a fan-favorite holiday tradition--the Overwatch Community Holiday Tree!

Cheers, love! The holidays are here!

Thanks for powering up our tree, heroes!

Happy Holidays from all of us on the Overwatch team. pic.twitter.com/OOdD9Drnby — Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) December 25, 2019

Now through December 5, you can send in your hand-crafted tree ornaments, festive decorations, heart-warming greeting cards, or recipes for tasty holiday treats to share with the Overwatch team.  You can also download our holiday tree ornament or greeting card template, and send us your artistic creations digitally. Your handmade postcards, ornaments, well-wishes, and any other cheerful tchotchkes, will be decorated throughout the studio.

We also want to see your t...