It came as a bit of a surprise when those who preordered Overwatch from Best Buy received emails saying that they would be able to pick up the physical disc a day early, on May 23rd, rather than the original release date of May 24th. Confused by this announcement, GameSpot got into contact with a Blizzard spokesperson, who said that “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.”
Now, bear in mind, this does not at all mean that those who purchase physical copies of Overwatch will be allowed to play the game a day earlier than those who purchase digital copies; Overwatch is a multiplayer-only game, and the servers will still not be launching until the scheduled May 24 release date. However, by allowing physical copies of the game to be installed hours before the official launch in a way similar to how digital games are preloaded, Blizzard is making sure that anyone who preorders Overwatch, regardless of retailer or platform, will be able to jump into a match at the exact moment when the servers go live. This is a practice that I would certainly like to see more often, especially for multiplayer games, and I appreciate that Blizzard is offering gamers who prefer physical discs the same privilege that gamers with digital libraries have been reaping for so long.
Tristan was a regular ICXM contributor between 2015–2017, publishing 51 articles across opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @tbogost.