Video game company Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) launched today the Overwatch Summer Games, the first seasonal event of multiplayer first-person shooter title Overwatch, themed around the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics.
The new features this update brings to Overwatch are skins, sprays, and a 3-on-3 Brawl mode called Lucioball, with matches running for four minutes in which teams try to punch a giant ball into each other’s goal. It’s a football competition between Lucios.
Players will have the chance of opening Summer Games Boxes, and they come full of themed accessories based on the Summer Olympics. However, some players have gotten epic skins for their favorite characters.
The Sumer Olympics 2016 come to Overwatch
Starting today, and until the end of the Olympic Games, any new Loot Boxes, a unique item within the game, players earn or purchase will have a look themed around the sports tournament.
Inside Loot Boxes, players can find over 100 Olympian accessories like icons, skins, sprays, emotes, highlight intros, and victory poses or celebrations for their favorite characters like Lucio, Zarya, Tracer, and many others.
There had been rumors about these new Loot Boxes being available only through purchase, but in the end, gamers can get them via regular play as usual.
While credits will not serve to buy Loot Boxes, every single one earned or purchased will include at least one Summer Games item. Players will also be allowed to keep items collected during the Summer Games forever but not use them once the seasonal event concludes.
Gamers will play Lucioball in Rio de Janeiro
Lucioball, very similar to Rocket League, will see as many as six Lucios, three on each team, paired against each other in Overwatch’s first soccer mode.
The two teams will play at the new Estádio das Rãs map located in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian city hosting this year’s Summer Olympics.
The soccer stadium perfectly suits Lucio’s abilities with jump pads and speed-boosting walls. The team who score the most goals before the match ends wins. Each game lasts four minutes.
“Punch, glide, block, bounce, and boop their way to victory,” says Blizzard to encourage players to try the new Lucioball Brawl.
Meanwhile, Lucio’s moves change a little. Here he punches instead of shooting, can only provide speed boosts for himself, and his Ultimate now draws the ball to him with Sound Barrier.
Blizzard has other events in mind for Overwatch
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Blizzard stated that the Overwatch Summer Games would be the first of many similar events to come for Overwatch, which will also include limited-edition Loot Boxes, modes, and more.
The update is now live on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One and will remain online until August 22.
Source: GameSpot