This product is no longer playable in any capacity. It is covered here for historical reference.
General information
- Official forums
- Official support sub-section
- Overwatch wiki
Availability
Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
Retail |
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Origins Edition, Collector's Edition, Game of the Year Edition and Legendary Edition |
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Amazon.com |
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Legendary Edition |
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Battle.net (unavailable) |
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Standard Edition and Legendary Edition |
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- All versions require Battle.net DRM and a constant internet connection for all game modes.
Monetization
Microtransactions
Type |
Notes |
Cosmetic
| The game has thousands of cosmetic items, ranging from sprays to skins, purchasable with the in-game premium currency. |
Currency
| The game has an in-game premium currency called coins. It cannot be directly earned in game nor purchased directly at a fixed real money to in-game currency rate. You may receive it by opening both free (given at each account level) and paid (via real money transactions) lootboxes either as the direct reward from the lootbox or if one of the items you receive is a duplicate. |
Finite spend
| The total spend is limited by the fact that you could in theory own all the cosmetic items. However, there are many thousand of low-value filler items, and you cannot directly purchase certain skins and items and must instead rely on the randomness of lootboxes, making the spend ceiling extremely high. |
Free-to-grind
| You could, in theory, obtain all the items by grinding the game. It may take you until the heat death of the universe, but it is possible. |
Loot box
| Overwatch was the first AAA western PC game with a sticker price to offer lootboxes, thus starting the whole trend.[1] |
Time-limited
| Some cosmetics are seasonal and only available for a limited time. |
Version differences
Overwatch: Origins Edition
This version includes the base game, along with the following extra content:
Overwatch: Game of the Year Edition
This version includes all of the content found in the Origins Edition, along with:
Overwatch: Legendary Edition
This version includes all of the content found in the Origins Edition, along with:
Overwatch: Collector's Edition
This version includes all of the content found in the Origins Edition, but not the Game of the Year Edition and the Legendary Edition, along with:
- The game's soundtrack
- A visual sourcebook
- A 12.8" statue of the Soldier: 76 hero
Game data
In-game general settings. (Launch)
Configuration file(s) location
System |
Location |
Windows |
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Overwatch\Settings\Settings_v0.ini |
- Progress, stats, and controls are saved automatically by Battle.net servers.
Video
In-game video settings. (Launch)
Input
- Individual control profiles for each hero are available, making it possible to have custom control settings and bindings for each one.
In-game control settings. (Launch)
Audio
In-game audio settings. (Launch)
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
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Sound Effects, Music, In-Game Voice, Voice Chat. |
Surround sound |
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Subtitles |
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On by default in the Tutorial, but added in 2019 to missions in the Archives event, then in regular play with three levels of customization ("None", "Critical gameplay", "Critical gameplay + Conversations", or "Everything"). |
Closed captions |
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Mute on focus lost |
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Toggle with sound in background option. |
EAX support |
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Dolby Atmos for Headphones, Windows Spatial Audio[4] |
Royalty free audio |
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Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
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Simplified Chinese |
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Traditional Chinese |
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French |
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German |
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Italian |
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Japanese |
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Korean |
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Polish |
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Brazilian Portuguese |
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Russian |
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Spanish |
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Latin American Spanish |
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Network
Multiplayer types
Type |
Native |
Players |
Notes |
LAN play |
| |
Online play |
| 12 |
Versus Up to 6 spectators can be added to a game on top of the max player limit. The official multiplayer service was shut down on October 3, 2022. |
Connection types
Ports
Protocol |
Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
TCP |
80, 1119, 3724, 6113 |
UDP |
3724, 26503-26597 |
- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.
Issues fixed
Overwatch process isn't being terminated when the game closes and/or changed settings are not saved
Set the exe to run as administrator
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- Go to the game installation folder \Overwatch\_retail_\ and right click Overwatch.exe > Properties > Compatibility tab > Check "Run this program as an administrator" > Apply/OK
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VR support
3D modes |
State |
Notes |
Nvidia 3D Vision |
| Works using Compatibility Mode (enabled by default). Depth-sensitive halo around weapons. |
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
11 |
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Shader Model support |
5 |
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Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
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Middleware
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Middleware |
Notes |
Audio |
Wwise (XAudio2[citation needed]) |
[5]. Dolby Atmos support for headphones. Vivox for voice chat |
Cutscenes |
Bink Video |
1.100n |
Multiplayer |
Battle.net |
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Anti-cheat |
Warden |
W/ GuardIT anti-debug[6] |
Add as a non-Steam shortcut to have the Steam Overlay
Use bnetlauncher[7]
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- With this method, manual login on every startup is not required.
- Download bnetlauncher.
- Extract
bnetlauncher.exe to an easily accessible location.
- In Steam, add
bnetlauncher.exe as a non-Steam shortcut.
- Right-click the shortcut and go to Properties.
- In the Target box, add a space and add
ow after the full path and quotation marks. For example, it would look like "C:\Overwatch\bnetlauncher.exe" ow .
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Add the game executable[citation needed]
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- With this method, manual login on every startup is required, even if Battle.net is running in the background.
- In Steam, add
<path-to-game>\Overwatch.exe as a non-Steam shortcut.
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Add Blizzard App executable[citation needed]
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- With this method, manual login on every startup is not required.
- In Steam, add the
Battle.net Launcher.exe executable from Blizzard App path as a non-Steam shortcut.
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System requirements
Windows |
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Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
7 |
8.1, 10 |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Core i3 AMD Phenom X3 8650 |
Intel Core i5 AMD Phenom II X3 |
System memory (RAM) |
4 GB |
6 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
30 GB | |
Video card (GPU) |
Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 ATI Radeon HD 4850 Intel HD Graphics 4400
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 AMD Radeon HD 7950 |
- A 64-bit operating system is required.
- SSD can fix FPS issues in first minutes of gameplay.[8]
References