Overwatch Deathmatch mode revealed: Here's what you need to know

Overwatch has been one of the most popular first person shooters since it launched almost a year and a half ago, but it's been missing one key FPS game mode its entire life: deathmatch. Players have been asking for deathmatch in some form since launch, but Blizzard has always responded with "no." The thinking behind the lack of deathmatch is that Blizzard would rather have Overwatch be about team-based objectives than simple kill count.

It makes sense that Blizzard wouldn't want deathmatch included in quick match and competitive game modes, but in the time since launch, Overwatch has gained an Arcade. In that Arcade, players can participate in variant game modes that don't really fit in with the standard modes that Blizzard considers the core Overwatch experience. As Jeff Kaplan announces in a new developer update, Arcade is the perfect place to implement the deathmatch mode players have been requesting for more than a year.

Overwatch's deathmatch mode will offer pretty much what you'd expect. There will be free-for-all deathmatches and team deathmatches, both with the goal of reaching a certain number of kills before your opponents. In free-for-all, that goal will be 20 kills, whereas in team deathmatch, the goal is increased to 30.

Of course, many of the existing maps in Overwatch weren't designed for deathmatches, so Blizzard has tweaked many of them for this new mode. Blizzard is also adding a new map called Château Guillard, which was designed specifically for deathmatch. You can get more information about this new mode directly from Kaplan in the developer update video you see posted above.

Deathmatch mode is live now on Overwatch's public test realm, which means that it should be available in the live game shortly. Are you excited to hear that Overwatch is getting a deathmatch mode? Are you, perhaps, a lapsed player who will be returning to the game to check it out? Let us know in the comments section!