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Overwatch 2’s next core game mode revealed: Flashpoint release date, how it works, more

Jeremy Gan  ❘   Published: 2023-06-21T19:38:07  ❘   Updated: 2023-06-21T19:38:24Blizzard Entertainment

Overwatch 2 Season 6 is bringing with it a whole new major game mode, Flashpoint, seemingly to replace 2CP, and here is all you need to know. 

Overwatch 2 players have been bombarded with an insane amount of news in the lead-up to Season 6, and one of the normally big announcements is an upcoming major game mode. 

Seemingly teased in late April, Flashpoint appears to be the official replacement for the 2CP game mode that was officially removed from the game.

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Flashpoint, as Blizzard announced in a post about Season 6, will be a new “core game mode” which is coming to Season 6 which will have both a Quick Play and Competitive queue for it. 

From how it works to when it comes out, here’s what we know about Flashpoint in Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 Flashpoint: Release date

According to the announcement post, the game mode is launching with the release of Overwatch 2: Invasion. This means it’s coming out when Season 6 arrives on August 10. 

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Overwatch 2 Flashpoint: Gameplay details

Despite no official gameplay from the devs, the announcement post included a short explanation of what we can expect, and it is looking like an official replacement of the Assault game mode, aka Two Control Point (2CP).

The post explains its gameplay as such: “Teams will fight for control of key positions across the map called “flashpoints”, aiming to capture three of them before their opponents do.”

Blizzard Entertainment

Based on their explanation, it seems the game mode will play out similarly to TF2’s Control Point game mode where opposing teams fight for control points, moving deeper into the map as one side takes control of each point.  

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Overwatch 2 Flashpoint: New maps

Announced with the new game mode, we know it will bring two new maps specifically made for the new objective: Suravasa and New Junk City.

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Obviously, since the game mode is markedly different from 2CP, the devs couldn’t reuse old layouts for the mode. And in the announcement post, we also received a teaser for one new map in a form of a picture. 

Blizzard

Provided with the announcement post by the devs was a teaser image of a new Flashpoint map

During a Watchpoint segment on the last day of the Overwatch League Midseason Madness, they revealed a few new things about Flashpoint.

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They first announced that there will be two new maps being released specifically for this mode. And that both maps are Overwatch’s biggest PvP maps to date.

During a June 21 Overwatch 2 livestream, the devs provided more information on how exactly the Flashpoint mode works and new map visuals.

The video also discussed how “massive” the Flashpoint maps were in comparison to other game modes. The livestream featured the Suravasa and New Junk City maps at the forefront of the Flashpoint explanation.

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“We really tried to push the bar as much as we could with these maps, they are much larger than any other maps we’ve built to date,” said principal environmental artist Daniel McGowan.

Overwatch 2 Flashpoint: Entering Competitive play

It was announced on Overwatch League’s Watchpoint that Flashpoint will be entering professional play on August 25.

Flashpoint will join the already existing four game modes; Control, Escort, Hybrid, and Push. This means, potentially, for the first time in Overwatch history that the game will have five different game modes in Standard Play.

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And that is all there is to the upcoming Flashpoint. As we get deeper into Season 5, and Season 6 is closer, we will get more info about Flashpoint, which we will update you on here.