Overwatch is Blizzard’s first franchise in over a decade. The game’s closed beta began today.
Blizzard is not sending out invitations through email, but is instead flagging accounts through Battle.net. The process is being done in waves, and can take up to 12 hours to complete. If you receive an invitation to the closed beta, you will see an “Overwatch Beta” license in your game account. It is not to late to try to get in, as you can do that right now on Battle.net.
As Blizzard’s goal is to get focused feedback, the player pool for this phase of the beta will be small. More players will be added throughout the duration of the beta. Blizzard will also hold Beta Test Weekends from time to time, during which larger groups of players will be called on to stress-test the title’s servers.
As Overwatch is still in development, Blizzard has warned that players may experience bugs and such. Also, progress made in the beta will not be carried over to the full game when it releases. There is no non-disclosure agreement, so players are able to post videos and screenshots, as well as talk about the game as much as they want.
No release date for Overwatch has been announced yet. The game will release on PC. The game’s beta is scheduled to end sometime before the end of the year, though no date has been given as of yet.