Overwatch 2 Season 20 Midseason patch release: Preload info and everything included for Blizzard’s Hero Shooter

Overwatch 2 is in a pretty strong place going into 2026, but Blizzard isn’t resting on its laurels with a fresh Midseason patch for Season 22 dropping very soon.

2025 was capped off with new Hero Vendetta added to the game’s lineup of characters, and while the Midseason update doesn’t bring any fresh blood to the table, it is a great chance to make small changes to the meta and iron out some bugs.

Here’s everything we expect in the Overwatch 2 Season 20 Midseason patch, as well as when you can expect it.

The Escapist recaps

• Blizzard is prepping another Overwatch 2 patch with a midseason refresh for Season 20.
• While it won’t add new heroes, it will make changes to the roster and introduce a fresh Mythic for Doomfist.
• Expect more events and collaborations throughout 2026.

Overwatch 2 Season 20 Midseason patch release date

As shared on the Overwatch subreddit by Megan Reardon of the Blizzard Community Team, the patch is slated for January 8 – that’s Thursday.

If you play Overwatch 2 on Battle.net, it looks like the pre-load is live, and it’s a hefty one at around 7GB total.

As explained in the Reddit post, “if you play on Sony or Xbox consoles you may notice that a pre-download has become available over the next day or so.”

“The pre-download should help speed up the update on Thursday BUT it does take up extra space on the console. If you’re running into space constraints due to this, this will resolve once the midseason goes live.”

Reardon explained on X (formerly Twitter) that the patch is a “rebase” patch which should actually minimize the game’s footprint.

Good to know, but what’s included?

Expected Patch Notes

We’re still waiting for the full notes, but we do have some ideas based on prior midseason updates.

For one, Vendetta is likely to get some changes. A recent hotfix adjusted her horizontal swing damage, but expect her to be brought more in line with the rest of the roster.

We’re getting Magma Titan Doomfist as a new Mythic Skin, too, with the skin likely to be revealed in the coming days before the patch hits.

Other than balance tweaks and Doomfist’s new look, expect fresh skins in the store – we’ll update this page as we hear more, and once we get the full patch notes.

There are also new turrets arriving for preventing spawn camps in Stadium, which should be welcome news for everyone who (like me) finds themselves pinned in.

Ask The Escapist

References

1. Season 20 Midseason Heads up (Reddit)