The final season of Overwatch has been announced by Blizzard as the free-to-play sequel to the game approaches its release date.

In order to prepare for the release of Overwatch 2 Blizzard is moving to sunset Overwatch. A business official confirmed that the 36th and last season of Overwatch will begin on September 2^nd, but due to scheduling issues, it's still unclear exactly what this time of ranked play would involve.

End of an era

Blizzard stated as much in late 2019 that Overwatch, which was first published in the middle of 2016, was initially designed to coexist with its sequel. However, the firm declared a change in course earlier this year, indicating that Overwatch 2 will completely replace Overwatch. The free-to-play sequel will launch on October 4th after two open betas. As a result of the change in the game's commercial model, battle passes for Overwatch 2 will take the place of loot boxes and all cosmetics and currency from the first game will seamlessly transfer over.

 It appears that this season will be the smallest one yet by a large margin based on the company's previously disclosed plans to shut down Overwatch once the sequel is released. Since there won't be time for one final 10-week ranked play season, some fans believe that season 36 will focus on another experimental patch that introduces some Overwatch 2 gameplay improvements utilizing solely assets from the first game. One such minor update, which included tweaks to characters like Zenyatta and Reinhardt's active and passive abilities, was already made available back in June.

A significant departure from prior seasons of Overwatch is the elimination of loot box purchases, which have already been removed from the game. Nevertheless, up until September 15th, when all unopened loot boxes will be unlocked in preparation for the Overwatch 2 migration, they can still be acquired by leveling up one's account. In the sequel, players will be able to buy the majority of cosmetics outright through a new in-game shop rather than taking a chance on goods.

The Conclusion

It will be hard to say goodbye to the game that we have grown to like so much, but on the other hand, it’s good that after all these years of playing Overwatch, we will get the chance to see it new and improved. Judging by the fans’ reactions to the Beta-version, there are lots of reasons to be optimistic about the new release.

The Overwatch 2 season format has already been extensively discussed by Blizzard, despite the fact that current season of Overwatch still has a certain air of mystery around it. The upcoming game will premiere with three more characters and six new maps, and the character list will grow every other season, it was also announced.

The gaming platforms PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X all support Overwatch.