Overwatch Will Hit Retail a Day Early For Pre-loading

[Steven Bogos]

Overwatch Will Hit Retail a Day Early For Pre-loading

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No longer will you have to choose between having a physical collector's edition and pre-loading the game.

"Pre-loading" is a term that digital distribution fans have become quite familiar with. These days, when a came comes out on Steam, or another platform, developers will often allow players who have pre-purchased the game to "pre-load" encrypted game files, which allow the game to be played the very second it goes live. Until now, gamers who prefer physical copies of games have been SOL, as they have to go to the store, pick up the game, install it, and then (usually) download a bunch of patches before they play.

Well, I'm happy to report that won't be the case for Overwatch [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/overwatch]. Blizzard has today announced that retail copies of the game will actually go on sale one day early - on May 23 - in order to ensure that everyone, regardless of how they choose to buy their games, will be able to hop right into the action the minute the servers go live.

"We would like for all of the players to be ready to dive straight into the action when the servers go live, so retailers are going to begin selling the game when their stores open on May 23rd," a spokesperson told GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-heads-to-retail-a-day-early-but-only-so-/1100-6439857/].

This appears to apply to all editions of the game (including the collector's edition) as well as all three platforms (Xbox One, PS4 and PC).

Source: GameSpot [http://www.gamespot.com/articles/overwatch-heads-to-retail-a-day-early-but-only-so-/1100-6439857/]

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[Z of the Na'vi]

OT: I have been waiting to pick up my Collector's Edition for months. I could not be more ready for this game. When I played during Open Beta I was hooked like the poor saps that get in Roadhog's way.

Get hype, only six more days!

 

[ccggenius12]

Damn Blizzard and their anti-consumer policies, when will they learn that people hate it when companies give them more than they expect (or deserve)?

 

[Metalrocks]

since the beta was more or less the full game, i left it on my pc, so it should not download too much to play when its ready. i know someone has asked this in the forum on blizzard if its the full game and they have responded that its pretty much it.

 

[Chefsbrian]

That is going to be sweet sweet news to people out there with bandwidth caps. Such a simple, yet effective move, well done Blizzard. If I wasn't incredibly broke, I'd have already bought Overwatch.

Now, to wait to see how many people are mad that they can't play the game the day they bought it.

 

[The Enquirer]

That is going to be sweet sweet news to people out there with bandwidth caps. Such a simple, yet effective move, well done Blizzard. If I wasn't incredibly broke, I'd have already bought Overwatch.

Now, to wait to see how many people are mad that they can't play the game the day they bought it.

There were 9 million people playing during the open beta and there didn't seem to be any problems with connectivity from what I heard. I'm hoping that's the trend that continues during the live release because it'd be a nice change from the usual pace of the game not being able to be played during the opening weekend.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

By the way, thanks a lot for sharing that. That's going on my list of videos to use for responses. It's hilarious.

It's also likely to be how I act once I finally get my hands on Overwatch again. I miss it so much.

(actually I'm kinda doing that flip-out routine right now, as the assignment I'm working on went from "nothing is working" to "It's due in 3 hours and 95% of it is working" in the space of on evening and one morning. WOOOOO GOOD SHIT!)

 

[Chefsbrian]

There were 9 million people playing during the open beta and there didn't seem to be any problems with connectivity from what I heard. I'm hoping that's the trend that continues during the live release because it'd be a nice change from the usual pace of the game not being able to be played during the opening weekend.

Nah, I think you misunderstood my attempt at a joke mate. I mean the people who buy on monday, go install the game and realize they can't play it 'till tuesday. Making light of people never being happy

 

[The Enquirer]

There were 9 million people playing during the open beta and there didn't seem to be any problems with connectivity from what I heard. I'm hoping that's the trend that continues during the live release because it'd be a nice change from the usual pace of the game not being able to be played during the opening weekend.

Nah, I think you misunderstood my attempt at a joke mate. I mean the people who buy on monday, go install the game and realize they can't play it 'till tuesday. Making light of people never being happy

Ah, I thought you were bringing up the servers being overloaded that happens with every multiplayer game nowadays.

 

[RaikuFA]

That is going to be sweet sweet news to people out there with bandwidth caps. Such a simple, yet effective move, well done Blizzard. If I wasn't incredibly broke, I'd have already bought Overwatch.

Now, to wait to see how many people are mad that they can't play the game the day they bought it.

There were 9 million people playing during the open beta and there didn't seem to be any problems with connectivity from what I heard. I'm hoping that's the trend that continues during the live release because it'd be a nice change from the usual pace of the game not being able to be played during the opening weekend.

I'd wait till the Friday after its released to get it, just to make sure it isn't Diablo 3 again.

 

[RebornKusabi]

So here in Texas-Land, all of my pre-loaded games go live at 11pm the day before release. So if this is a day earlier, does that mean it'll go live May 22nd at 11pm or May 23 at 11pm? Or May 23 12am? Clarification would be helpful -_-'