Director's Take: Opening up the conversation on 5v5 and 6v6

Hey everyone! There's been a lot of talk about 6v6 lately, and it's only intensified in recent weeks since we posted our latest Director's Take and made a Twitter post with a promise to talk about it in the future. Well, now is the future, and this is that next piece! So, let's get into it! Wait. Let's not get into it quite yet…

This is a pretty complex and nuanced topic, and it gets to the beating heart of what makes this game tick. Our players have different opinions and preferences about the ideal number of players in an Overwatch match, and so does our team. We’re a microcosm of the broader community and discuss this internally. I’m hoping that this piece will serve as an introduction to our own discussions and a jumping off point to engage with all of you!

I'd also like to set a few expectations and ground rules. First, it's pretty long (creators are going to lose their voices reading this one aloud). If you'd like a tl;dr, the 'What's Next' section should suffice. Secondly, I'm not here to tell you what you ought to like, or even what's empirically better. This is a game, and your preference for fun is relative to your own tastes, ability and experience. Lastly, there are years of decisions that affect such a fundamental piece of Overwatch. Some of you might be intimately aware of these, while others might not. Before diving in, I'd like to set the stage and give some context on some of the larger changes to the game that ultimately culminated in the 5v5 format we have today.

There have been three large format changes to Overwatch, and the first happened shortly after the game launched. This was Hero Limits. Before this there could be any number of a particular hero on one team. You could have six Genji’s, or six Reinhardt’s. If my memory serves me right, the winner of Team 4's first internal tournament was one Winston and five Zenyatta’s. We called it ‘Quinston’. Zenyatta Orbs stacked with no cap to healing at the time. It was glorious... and terrifying!

During