Blizzard Entertainment announced today that Overwatch deathmatch mode is currently available in the PTR.
The video announcement (above) from Jeff from the Overwatch team was a bit of a shock since he has previously insisted at BlizzCon that deathmatch would never come to the game, to keep the game focused on objective based combat not random kills.
So what changed? Jeff says the opening of the Arcade last year “opened up our ability to as developers to introduce game modes to you guys that we wouldn’t normally feel comfortable putting in the quick-play or competitive rotation.”
Deathmatch comes with two modes and a new map. The first mode, Free-For-All, consists of matches where players compete to be the first to reach 20 kills. Team Deathmach takes two teams of 6 players each fighting to be the first to get 30 kills - the catch is that mercy resurrections subtract from the other team's count. The kills are counted by a brand new kill counter designed for deathmatch.
The new map, Château Guillard, is designed for the two matches, while other maps have been modified for the challenges.
While deathmatch will support all languages it will be hosted in the U.S. so anyone joining beyond the borders should expect slowdowns and diminished graphic quality.
The patch is available for anyone with an Overwatch game license for Windows PC that has been logged into at least once and is attached your Battle.net account.
Can't get into deathmatch yet? Check out the Overwatch Summer Games Event!