Overwatch 2 season six kicked off on Aug. 10 with more content than the game has ever released in a singular season outside of the game’s launch. But one addition that flew relatively under the radar was the new permanent game mode Flashpoint.
With a new hero—Illari—and PvE Story Missions, it was easy to overlook the game mode’s relevance, but players won’t be able to overlook it anymore because the next time you load into a competitive match, your ranked points might be on the line in New Junk City or Suravasa.
That’s right, Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller announced on social media today that the team has already decided to add the new Flashpoint maps to the competitive map pool just one week after their release. Blizzard previously told Dot Esports that the expected competitive release for Flashpoint would be around two weeks after the start of the season, so around Aug. 22 or 24.
Not only does this mean players have to deal with very new maps in competitive games earlier than anticipated, but it also comes as a shock to those of us who expected to at least have a day or so heads up on the matter.
Related: Overwatch 2 dev details upcoming nerfs to new support hero Illari
Keller’s post did not include any information on when to expect Illari in ranked. Thus far, the expectation has been that Illari will be playable in competitive next week after she’s been out for two weeks. Blizzard previously told Dot Esports Illari would be unlocked in competitive next week, but it also said Flashpoint would have a similar timeline.
The game’s lead hero designer Alec Dawson posted on Twitter yesterday evening saying that Illari is getting nerfed when she “enters Competitive next week.” So everyone can probably relax momentarily, or at least until your ranked queue pops and you’re thrown into New Junk City.
