Blizzard Entertainment will run a 6v6 Role Queue Competitive mini season in Overwatch when Season 6 launches, bringing back the classic 2-2-2 team format to ranked play for four weeks.
Game Director Aaron Keller laid out the plan in his latest Director's Take blog post, which Overwatch shared on X (formerly Twitter). Three Competitive options will be live on day one of Season 6: the standard 5v5 Role Queue, 6v6 Open Queue and the new 6v6 Role Queue test. The test comes with a dedicated balance patch for 6v6, which will also apply to the 6v6 Open Queue mode.
Why Blizzard is testing 6v6 Role Queue
Overwatch launched with six-player teams but later moved to five, which Keller said was "primarily to improve queue times and address gameplay issues". Open Queue was later switched back to 6v6 and has stayed that way for nearly two years. According to Keller, it is now the second most-played mode in Season 5.
Keller said players of that mode have asked for Role Queue to return, but the team had been "a little hesitant" because of the effect on queue times. Two tests earlier this year with different queueing methods did not deliver what players wanted, and follow-up surveys showed the community split almost evenly between 5v5 and 6v6. Blizzard said matchmaking changes shipping with Season 6 should help keep queue times manageable, and that the team will monitor them closely.
5v5 stays the main mode
Keller was clear that 6v6 will not replace 5v5. "Currently, we don't have any intention of moving the main mode of Overwatch to 6v6, but we're starting to think of it as a second among equals," he wrote. Running both versions of 6v6 side by side is meant to show how many players pick Open Queue for role flexibility and how many simply want bigger teams.
Season 6 will also introduce a new hero, whose full reveal is due during the Overwatch Champions Series (OWCS) Finals broadcast, with the OWCS Asia Finals taking place during G-Star. The Mystery Madness limited-time mode returns in Season 1 2027 with a new theme and powers.
