Overwatch 2 beta release time and Twitch drops confirmed

The Overwatch 2 beta release time is upon us, and Blizzard is offering guaranteed access through Twitch drops on top of the usual beta invites

Overwatch 2 beta release time Twitch drops: Sojourn, Brigitte, and Zenyatta prepare to fight

Blizzard has confirmed the Overwatch 2 beta release time, and unveiled a big list of streamers you can follow to get access via Twitch drops. If you’ve not yet signed up, you can do so on the official site. The beta will initially only be available in English, and will begin in North America, Europe, Latin America and Brazil, Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia.

The Overwatch 2 beta release time is set for Tuesday, April 26 at 11am PDT / 2pm EDT / 7pm BST. You will not receive a beta invite before that time – Blizzard says that once launch time hits, invites will begin rolling out, and those emails will continue throughout the day. All players selected for the first round will receive their invites on the first day. If you don’t get your invite in that first wave, Blizzard says it “may” send out further invites later on in the test, which runs until May 17.

You can also get guaranteed access by watching four hours of a participating Twitch channel between 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 6pm BST and 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT on April 27. (That’s 2am BST on April 28 if you’re on the other side of the date line.)

There are far too many participating channels to list here, so you can see them all over in the official announcement.

You have to have access to the original Overwatch on your Battle.net account in order to play the Overwatch 2 beta, but Blizzard says a free trial will be offered during the beta period.

In July 2021, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard alleging years of workplace discrimination and harassment. The story has since embroiled CEO Bobby Kotick and prompted the US federal government to open an investigation. It continues to unfold and to be of immense importance to the game industry. You can catch up on all the developments so far in this regularly updated explainer article.

Check out the Overwatch 2 system requirements to make sure your machine is ready. We don’t yet know when the Overwatch 2 release date will land, but it will not be this year.