The Overwatch Summer Games was the very first seasonal event added to the hero shooter, and therefore holds a special place in fans' hearts. It's bound to return later this year with a wave of new zany Summer skins and its futuristic spin on soccer. For now, here's everything you can expect to see with the Overwatch Summer Games event in 2022.
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Overwatch Summer Games 2022 Release Date
As with most seasonal events in Overwatch, it's not too difficult to work out when events start and end. That's because they usually follow a fairly consistent pattern. So we simply need to look back at when the events started in previous years to get a sense of when we can expect the Summer Games to begin in 2022.
Year | Started | Ended |
|---|---|---|
Summer Games 2016 | August 2 | August 23 |
Summer Games 2017 | August 8 | August 29 |
Summer Games 2018 | August 9 | June 30 |
Summer Games 2019 | July 16 | August 5 |
Summer Games 2020 | August 4 | August 25 |
Summer Games 2021 | July 20 | August 10 |
As we can see, Blizzard normally releases the Summer Games event either in mid-July or early August. It's not clear why the event started so early in 2019, but in 2021 it was likely brought forward to coincide with the Tokyo Olympics which began on July 23.
Looking ahead, we think the game could revert to an August launch. That being said, to cover our bases we can likely expect a release July 29, 2022 at the very earliest and August 9, 2022 at the latest. For the time being though this is just speculation on our part, and we'll have to wait on an official announcement from Blizzard for confirmation.
What Modes and Events Are Available?
As with every year, we should see the return of fan favourite Lucioball, which offers a Rocket League-style game mode.
Essentially, players must team up to 'boop the ball into the opponent’s goal'. As you can imagine, the team that scores the most points before time runs out wins the game. Easy. Unless you're playing the alternative Lucioball Remix mode, which is a more chaotic version where two balls are in play.
Overwatch Summer Games 2021 Skins
Of course, the reason many will log in for the event will be to earn all-new skins for their favourite character. As with every seasonal event there's a wide variety of new cosmetics added to the game for players to collect, including sprays, emotes, victory poses and so much more.
Naturally, new skins are what's most coveted and we suspect we'll see more added in 2022. Normally this comes in the form of several new Legendary skins, and a couple of Epic skins that can only be earned through weekly challenges.
Along with however many new skins Blizzard chooses to add, players, can also unlock all past Summer Games skins (like Grillmaster: 76 below). Currently, the existing pool of Summer Games' skins stands at 51 before the launch of the 2022 event.
That's everything you need to know about the Overwatch Summer Games event in 2022. If you've been thinking of switching to a completely new role, why not take a look at a rundown of the Best Support, Tank and DPS Heroes in the game currently.