The Summer Games, the first seasonal event ever held by Blizzard for Overwatch, is coming back to the massively popular multiplayer shooter on Aug. 8.
This year's Summer Games will bring back some familiar elements that players enjoyed last year, while also adding new things for players to look forward to.
Overwatch Summer Games Event Returns Next Week
Blizzard revealed the return of the Summer Games event to Overwatch on Aug. 8 through a tweet, which came with a picture that also teases the return of Lucioball.
Last year's Summer Games was tied to the 2016 Rio Olympics, so despite hints of a Summer Games return discovered alongside details of the arrival of Doomfist, it was unclear if the event will indeed be brought back this year.
This year's Summer Games will run from Aug. 8 to Aug. 29, and in addition to Lucioball, will also bring back the Olympic-themed skins that were introduced last year. Players previously were not able to purchase the skins using in-game credits, but this will now be possible upon their return.
Last year's Summer Games skins will be sold at a discount, with Legendary Skins to cost 1,000 credits, Epic Skins to cost 250 credits, and Rare Skins to cost 75 credits.
This year's Summer Games will introduce new skins, of course, with Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan hinting that Junkrat will get a Legendary Skin. Widowmaker, McCree, and Mercy will also be getting skins, though the rarity of the items is unclear.
Datamined strings revealed that players can expect over 40 new items in this year's Summer Games, in addition to the returning cosmetics. That is a lot of things to purchase and acquire from loot boxes.
Competitive Lucioball Coming Soon
For some Overwatch players, the return of Lucioball is the most exciting part of this year's Summer Games.
Lucioball is Overwatch's version of a soccer match that placed gamers in a three-on-three match. All players use Lucio, with a different set of abilities specifically for the brawl mode. Lucioball earned rave reviews for its fun and fast gameplay, drawing similarities with another soccer-inspired game, Rocket League.
This year's Summer Games will offer competitive Lucioball, with a ranked season spanning the three weeks of the event. There is also a change implemented to Lucio's ultimate for Lucioball: last year, the ultimate pulled the ball towards the player, but this year, the ultimate will grant more speed and better jumping abilities to Lucio for a limited amount of time.
