\n
As opening day<\/a> for Overwatch League season 5 fast approaches, Blizzard is finally sharing more news on the progress of Overwatch 2<\/em><\/a>. In a developer update, the Overwatch 2<\/em> team said closed alpha testing will begin today, with a closed beta to follow in April. The closed alpha will be open to a select group of people, including Overwatch League pros, while the closed beta will feature an expanded group of participants who can request access to the beta by signing up at PlayOverwatch.com<\/a>, though you might want to wait a bit since the site is experiencing problems.<\/p>\n
\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"6Z1Ny2\">Interestingly, neither the closed alpha nor beta will feature any PvE elements and will instead focus entirely on PvP. <a href=\"https:\/\/news.blizzard.com\/en-us\/overwatch\/23785080\/overwatch-2-community-update\">According to the Overwatch blog<\/a>, \u201cWe are changing our release strategy by decoupling Overwatch 2\u2019s PvP and PvE experiences from one another to get new PvP content into your hands sooner, while we continue to work on PvE.\u201d This might mean that when Overwatch 2 finally does release, it might be in chunks with PvP coming out first. <em>Halo Infinite<\/em> had a similar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/6\/22964321\/halo-infinite-campaign-co-op-season-two-may\">piecemeal release strategy<\/a> with certain gameplay modes not released at launch.<\/p>\n<p id=\"eP5P1n\">Compounded by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/7\/22\/22588215\/activision-blizzard-lawsuit-sexual-harassment-discrimination-pay\">lawsuits<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/1\/18\/22889258\/microsoft-activision-blizzard-xbox-acquisition-call-of-duty-overwatch\">merger news<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2019\/2\/12\/18222484\/activision-blizzard-layoffs-cuts-jobs-record-results-2018\">layoffs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.videogameschronicle.com\/news\/activision-blizzard-says-its-facing-difficulties-attracting-and-retaining-talent\/\">inability to attract talent<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/2\/4\/22267131\/diablo-4-overwatch-2-release-date-2022-activision-blizzard-earnings\">multiple<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/11\/2\/22760118\/activision-blizzard-delays-overwatch-2-and-diablo-4-again\">delays<\/a>, news on <em>Overwatch 2<\/em> has been worryingly scarce. Blizzard has showcased some elements of the game to the public, like its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/5\/20\/22446374\/overwatch-2-preview-five-player-multiplayer-new-maps-changes\">new game mode Push and the new 5v5 format<\/a>. But outside of some new concept art, there hasn\u2019t been much shared about a game the public will see for the first time when the new Overwatch League season starts in May. <em>Overwatch 2<\/em> game director Aaron Keller acknowledged the lack of communication saying this announcement of the closed alpha and beta testing will initiate, \u201cmore continual updates on all things <em>Overwatch 2<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"q3HddA\">Along with the information that the closed beta will include the new Push mode, hero reworks, and the 5v5 format, Blizzard has confirmed that Sojourn, the game\u2019s 33rd character and first Black female hero, will finally be playable. <em>Overwatch<\/em> has <a href=\"https:\/\/kotaku.com\/overwatch-has-had-a-black-female-character-in-developme-1834244190\">long been criticized for<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/kotaku.com\/blizzard-explains-why-overwatch-still-doesnt-have-a-bla-1830241379\">not including<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/kotaku.com\/overwatch-fan-writes-letter-to-jeff-kaplan-about-black-1831576005\">a Black female<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/kotaku.com\/the-overwatch-2-panel-was-cool-but-please-give-us-the-1846313026\">hero<\/a>. For a game that explicitly celebrates the diversity and multi-nationality of its characters and features four sentient robots, a talking gorilla scientist, and a murderous hamster piloting a machine gun-equipped hamster ball, not having a Black female hero does seem like an oversight. Before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2021\/4\/20\/22394116\/overwatch-director-jeff-kaplan-activision-blizzard-departure\">his departure from Blizzard in 2021<\/a>, Jeff Kaplan, former <em>Overwatch 2<\/em> game director, said that Sojourn <a href=\"https:\/\/kotaku.com\/overwatch-director-says-there-are-story-reasons-for-sav-1839643276\">would not be released until <em>Overwatch 2<\/em><\/a>. It seems, at long last, that day has finally arrived. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><code><br \/><\/br><\/code><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/10\/22970734\/blizzard-overwatch-2-closed-beta-alpha-annoucement-sojourn\">https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/10\/22970734\/blizzard-overwatch-2-closed-beta-alpha-annoucement-sojourn<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: As opening day for Overwatch League season 5 fast approaches, Blizzard is finally sharing more news on the progress of Overwatch 2. In a developer update, the Overwatch 2 team said closed alpha testing will begin today, with a closed beta to follow in April. The closed alpha will be open to a select [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,8],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-1314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","category-technology","tag-gaming"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Overwatch 2 closed beta will finally let you play as a Black woman - Science and Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/11\/the-overwatch-2-closed-beta-will-finally-let-you-play-as-a-black-woman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Overwatch 2 closed beta will finally let you play as a Black woman - Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source: As opening day for Overwatch League season 5 fast approaches, Blizzard is finally sharing more news on the progress of Overwatch 2. 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