Aug 10, 2023 2 min read

Overwatch 2 now available on Steam Deck

Blizzard's hero shooter Overwatch 2 is now available to download and play directly from the Steam store.

Overwatch 2 on Steam

Blizzard's hero shooter Overwatch 2 is now available to download and play directly from the Steam store.

Blizzard's team-based shooter Overwatch 2 is now available to download via the Steam store — meaning you can now Lúcio boop every single Genji you come across directly on your Steam Deck.

Overwatch 2 launched back in October of 2022, but before today the only way to play the critically acclaimed hero shooter on PC was via Battle.net — and although with some workarounds you could play the Battle.net version of Overwatch 2 on the Steam Deck, things will now be much easier thanks to this official Steam release.

Overwatch 2 on Steam Deck
Overwatch 2 on Steam Deck

The move to bring free-to-play Overwatch 2 to Steam is part of wider plans announced last month. Blizzard detailed how they will be bringing a selection of its games to the Steam platform going forward — starting with the multiplayer first-person hit.

Mike Ybarra, the current President of Blizzard Entertainment said that although Battle.net remains a priority for them, the company is now responding to players who “want the choice of Steam", adding that they are "happy to work with Valve" to make such a choice a reality.

Overwatch® 2 on Steam
Overwatch 2 is a critically acclaimed, team-based shooter game set in an optimistic future with an evolving roster of heroes. Team up with friends and jump in today.

The game's arrival on Steam on August 10 comes alongside the introduction of a new content drop — Overwatch 2: Invasion.

This 'Invasion' launch adds in the very first set of PvE story missions (set in Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, and Gothenberg), in addition to a new PvP game mode with two new maps, and new support hero Illari.

You'll need just over 50GB in free space to install Overwatch 2 via Steam, and you'll still need a Battle.net account in order to login to the game of course.

How does Overwatch 2 run on Steam Deck?

In our initial testing of Overwatch 2 on Steam Deck, the game seems to run well, and appears to stay at a consistent 50FPS once in a match. It does occasionally dip during busy moments — such as if a team all decide to pop their Ultimate at the same time.

However, we did face some issues with the controller settings on Steam Deck, with the game seemingly jumping between a gamepad layout and keyboard and mouse configuration, resulting in all input being temporarily lost in-game. Far from ideal.

If you're facing this Overwatch 2 controller input issue on Steam Deck, switching the compatibility to 'Proton Experimental' seemed to fix things for us.


Will you be playing Overwatch 2 via Steam? Let us know who you main in the comments below!

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.
Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.
You've successfully subscribed to overkill.
Your link has expired.
Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.
Success! Your billing info has been updated.
Your billing was not updated.