For a game as highly anticipated as Overwatch 2, audiences have heard very little about the game outside of the public playtest last September. But, it appears that this Overwatch drought is about to end soon. Eagle-eyed fans noticed something interesting on Blizzard’s game launcher, Battle.net, that could hint at a beta test.
According to BlizzTrack, Overwatch’s version build number went from 1.68 to 2.0 on Thursday, February 3. Specifically, the current Overwatch 2 build is listed as 2.00.7.0.93221, which is a significant change since Blizzard has launched every major Overwatch patch on a 1.0. Unfortunately, this is the extent of the information available about the new developer build for Overwatch. Because the build is encrypted, data miners haven’t been able to crack the launcher to see potential content.
The good news here is that the patch exists, so we should hear Blizzard acknowledge the changes that it made in the next couple of weeks. Also more telling is the new build pushed to Battle.net alongside the February 3 update.
Overwatch 2 finally shows up on https://t.co/7n7qnRLxhH !
Several builds were pushed last night including a version 2.00.7.0.93195 for developers and a "Demo 2" 👀 pic.twitter.com/Rb79dWE0yX
— Overwatch Cavalry (@OWCavalry) February 4, 2022
A recent report suggests that an Overwatch 2 beta might start in March in the lead-up to the next season of the Overwatch League. So, it would make sense for Blizzard to start updating the game launcher’s client as early as possible.
Things haven’t gone well for Blizzard since revealing Overwatch 2 at BlizzCon 2019. For starters, Blizzard had to cancel BlizzCon 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to this, the tumultuous situation around the globe should have harmed the game’s development. To make matters worse, Activision Blizzard is going through a tough time itself. Between sexual harassment allegations in the workplace and the departure of Jeff Kaplan as well as allegations of Bobby Kotick causing the delay of Overwatch 2, it’s no wonder that Blizzard keeps on pushing back the release date of the Overwatch sequel.
If it’s any consolation, March or April isn’t too far off. We’ll know by then if the leaks about Overwatch 2 are true or not.
