Overview

• Season 18 launches August 26 with roughly 60 new Perks and a new Quick Play option for the Stadium mode.
• A full progression overhaul adds a clearer rewards track, returning loot boxes including legendary variants, an Ascended State hero icon, and a per‑hero Skill Rating for Competitive.
• The update introduces the support hero Wuyang, brings Brigitte, Winston, Pharah, and Tracer into Stadium, enables cross‑play for Stadium Quick Play, and adds Payload Race with two new maps.
• Blizzard confirms a sustained pivot away from PvE after acknowledging Overwatch 2’s story missions underperformed, with resources redirected to competitive systems.
• Developers cite Stadium’s strong engagement, peaking at over half of play hours and now ranking as the game’s third most played mode, as evidence for doubling down on this direction.