Overwatch 2 is gearing up for a brand-new in-game Music Festival event, featuring bright neon skins, matching dance emotes, an event Battle Pass, and most importantly, a rhythm minigame. This event is unlike any that has ever taken place in Overwatch 2 before, and is evocative of the Fortnite Festival spin-off of the critically-acclaimed battle royale.
However, there is a massive asterisk attached to this event: it is only available to Overwatch 2 fans in China. While aspects of the event are expected to arrive globally, its most unique features will likely only be available to Chinese players. Unfortunately, this massive limitation will prevent Overwatch 2’s answer to Fortnite Festival from ever reaching the same levels of excitement.
Fortnite Festival vs. Overwatch 2’s Music Festival
Overwatch 2 Can’t Hold a Candle to Fortnite With This Kind of Event
Fortnite Festival is a robust rhythm game released as a part of the Fortnite launcher in December 2023. Created by Harmonix, the original makers of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, Fortnite Festival is in many ways a spiritual successor to some of the cornerstones of the rhythm game genre.
In the nearly two years since its release, Fortnite Festival has received tons of updates, including guitar controller support, PvP modes, and tons of songs. Ten seasons of tracks themed around various artists have been released over the years, ranging from The Weeknd and Lady Gaga to Hatsune Miku and Gorillaz – the current season of Fortnite Festival.
- The Weeknd
- Lady Gaga
- Billie Eilish
- Metallica
- Karol G
- Snoop Dogg
- Hatsune Miku
- Sabrina Carpenter
- Bruno Mars
- Gorillaz
Enter the Overwatch 2 Music Festival event. Themed around five Neon Pulse skins for Pharah, Juno, Ashe, Sombra, and Mercy, and their matching dance emotes, the heart of this promotion seems much like similar Overwatch 2 events. However, the addition of an independent event Battle Pass, as well as a Guitar Hero-esque minigame called “Rythymwatch,” makes it seem much more like Fortnite Festival, even if it is only available for a limited time.
But unfortunately, this event is only available in China. Though the nation has a massive pool of players in the wake of Blizzard and NetEase bringing Overwatch 2 back to China, it still only accounts for a fraction of the global community. Most fans being unable to experience this new event will not only limit its reach but also stymie its chance of being successful.
Of course, there is a chance some of the aspects of the Overwatch 2 Music Festival event could move outside of China. The skins and emotes, for example, are expected to be released globally, though the in-game events and minigames probably won’t.
That said, as fashionable as these cosmetics are, it is nothing players haven’t seen before, such as with the new Persona 5 x Overwatch 2 collab. An event-specific Battle Pass and rhythm minigame, on the other hand, has never been done in Overwatch 2‘s history, so it is a bummer to see that it is region-locked.
This isn’t the first time China has gotten a region-locked Overwatch 2 minigame spin-off; the robust Loverwatch dating sim featuring romance routes for Genji, Juno, D.Va, Mauga, Lifeweaver, Junker Queen, and Cassidy was available for CN players back in July.
If Overwatch 2 were to double down on this music festival event, it could actually become real competition for Fortnite Festival. A permanent rhythm game with songs from Overwatch 2 and the various crossover IPs, or even possibly other Blizzard IPs like Diablo, StarCraft, and Warcraft, has the potential to be a massive hit. At the moment, the most players can hope for is that the Chinese-exclusive event is a huge hit, so that it might eventually see a global release.