Skip to main content PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES Search PC Gamer View Profile Movies & TV Gaming Industry PC Gaming Show Newsletter Signup Community Guidelines Affiliate Links Meet the team About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine Subscription Why subscribe? Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99View Essential Hardware PC Gaming Show Dune: Awakening Recommended reading My favourite part of Overwatch 2 Stadium is all the wacky ways you can make Soldier 76 the most annoying hero to walk this planet Overwatch 2 Season 17 is 'all about giving you more customisation' as 3 new heroes are added to Stadium with some pretty busted abilities Overwatch 2's Stadium mode gameplay trailer somehow looks even more chaotic with whole team nano boosts, multi orbs, and a mini B.O.B. 'Stadium is Overwatch 2's most-played mode': Blizzard confirms Stadium's success with 7.8 million hours played across 2.3 million matches in the launch week alone 'We were literally held hostage': Overwatch 2 players are finding the matchmaking in Stadium tough, but the devs say they're working on a couple of solutions Overwatch 2 Stadium details: Everything you need to know about the new mode Stadium's roadmap for Overwatch 2 is planned out for the next three seasons, with more heroes, maps, and custom games on the horizon Third Person Shooter Overwatch 2 'What's the most chaotic evil thing we can make?': Overwatch 2 devs are seeing just how far they can push Stadium's fights, but will reign it in for the sake of player sanity Elie Gould 30 June 2025 These Stadium Zens are built angry. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Blizzard) It can be hard to find order in the chaos of an Overwatch 2 Stadium game. The ability to distinguish between what brightly coloured mess of colours is good and bad at a moment's notice can be a hard one to master. And now you have to deal with all the various hero Powers and item abilities—it's one hell of a ride. Stadium brings a new style to Overwatch 2, offering shorter fights, more rounds, and a power creep (which is more of a power rush) when you get to late-game fights. There's currently a limited roster, but with every season more heroes get added, each bringing more game-changing powers and abilities with them. 2025 games: This year's upcoming releases Best PC games: Our all-time favorites Free PC games: Freebie fest Best FPS games: Finest gunplay Best RPGs: Grand adventures Best co-op games: Better together "We have quite a few planning meetings as a group where we go through the list of options, then look for gaps in like playstyles and archetypes that exist currently in Stadium that we think would add a lot," senior game designer, Dylan Snyder, says. Related Articles My favourite part of Overwatch 2 Stadium is all the wacky ways you can make Soldier 76 the most annoying hero to walk this planet Overwatch 2 Season 17 is 'all about giving you more customisation' as 3 new heroes are added to Stadium with some pretty busted abilities Overwatch 2's Stadium mode gameplay trailer somehow looks even more chaotic with whole team nano boosts, multi orbs, and a mini B.O.B. Next season's heroes exemplify this. With Brigitte being a brawly Support and Pharah being one of the few airborne heroes, both bring something different to the mode. "Characters like that, who have a lot of chaos as part of their kits, are really exciting to bring into Stadium where chaos is the menu item of the day," Snyder says. But the most chaotic addition this season, and perhaps of all time is already here—I'm talking about Junkrat. "I think the first time we ever played Junkrat in Stadium with the whole team, there were just bombs everywhere," senior game designer, Conor Kou, says. "And we were like, 'Okay, this is a little much.' He's one of those characters where chaos is just part of his fantasy. So we wanted to play into that a bit. We're trying to see how far we can push it." (Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment) I've encountered plenty of Junkrats in Stadium this week, and while it hasn't been quite as bad as Kou's ordeal, it's still been an experience to remember. Some of Junkrat's Powers are absolutely hilarious—I got the scare of my life the other day when a Junkrat popped out of an exploding RIP-Tire like a jack-in-the-box. At times, Junk's rate of fire increase abilities coupled with Powers like the above make the hero feel more 'chaotic evil alignment' than anything resembling fair game. "That's how we design them, too," Snyder jokes. "What's the most chaotic evil thing we can make? That's like, a Conor speciality." The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. We want to make things more chaotic. We want to build that power fantasy that you can experience.Conor Kou, senior game designer Evil chaos may sound like a lot of fun on paper, but in actuality, there does need to be a line drawn before a hero gets too powerful or unpredictable and begins to dominate lobbies. "It's something that we're always trying to keep an eye on with any of our heroes," Kou says. "We want to make things more chaotic. We want to build that power fantasy that you can experience over the course of a Stadium game. But if the chaos starts to overtake all of that, then that's something we have to peel back on." At its best, Stadium can feel like two teams of gods fighting each other. Chaotic and powerful abilities swirl around as everyone scrambles for control over the objective. It can be thrilling, and provide some of the most exciting moments I've experienced in Overwatch. At its worst, Stadium can feel overwhelming. (Image credit: Activision Blizzard) Since its launch, there have been numerous heroes who have (and continue to) run the meta. A Mercy pocket on a hitscan hero is predictably awful to play around, as she can essentially buff a mid-tier player with her damage boost. Freja spent her first few weeks in Stadium absolutely running amok with zero damage falloff, and is still a pain to play against even after being nerfed. But the devs continue to balance all the heroes to the best of their ability, and keep an eye out for anyone who gets too strong. "We're always keeping an ear out and listening to feedback," Kou says. "Our goal for Stadium is that we want to have a variety of viable builds, and, of course, viable heroes. We want you to be able to play your hero in lots of different ways. That's one of the reasons we've made such frequent updates." These frequent updates have also been made in conjunction with more developer blogs and videos with the team. "It's been super important for us with Stadium to almost over-communicate as much as possible with the community," Snyder says. "I think we saw it as an opportunity to start fresh. It's kind of its own beast, and we could treat it that way, in how we update the community, how we interact with them, and how we engage and act on their feedback." Blizzard Entertainment News Writer Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. My favourite part of Overwatch 2 Stadium is all the wacky ways you can make Soldier 76 the most annoying hero to walk this planet Overwatch 2 Season 17 is 'all about giving you more customisation' as 3 new heroes are added to Stadium with some pretty busted abilities Overwatch 2's Stadium mode gameplay trailer somehow looks even more chaotic with whole team nano boosts, multi orbs, and a mini B.O.B. 'Stadium is Overwatch 2's most-played mode': Blizzard confirms Stadium's success with 7.8 million hours played across 2.3 million matches in the launch week alone 'We were literally held hostage': Overwatch 2 players are finding the matchmaking in Stadium tough, but the devs say they're working on a couple of solutions Overwatch 2 Stadium details: Everything you need to know about the new mode Latest in Third Person Shooter 'We were super confident in third-person': Overwatch 2 Stadium devs love the new perspective but understand it's not to everyone's liking, 'A decade of muscle memory exists' Ahead of Marvel Rivals Season 3, NetEase is making it easier for losing teams to end their own suffering Marvel Rivals Season 3 release date, potential characters, and more 'Where did he go?': Blade has gone missing in Marvel Rivals, which has the rumour mill theorising that he'll finally be added to the roster in Season 3 'The winds of change are blowing': After 159 days Marvel Rivals has finally nerfed Storm, albeit not by much Spine is a gun-fu love letter that wants to make you feel as OP as John Wick Latest in News Crisis averted—Blizzard quickly axes busted Diablo 4 build that turned players into teleporting gods of destruction on the PTR, because it was 'basically eclipsing everything else' Ubisoft can't button its yap about the not-so-secret Black Flag remake—now Edward Kenway's voice actor is telling AC4 fans 'You might have to beat it again' Today's Wordle answer for Monday, June 30 Singapore case of fraudulant AI chip shipments to China in wake of US fears of military use has been adjourned until August Denmark to introduce law giving individuals automatic copyright over their own likeness in effort to tackle AI and deepfakes Apple responds to $570 million in EU fines with new tiered comission and tax for App developers which Epic boss Tim Sweeney says are 'blatantly unlawful in both Europe and the United States' HARDWARE BUYING GUIDES LATEST GAME REVIEWS Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads Best graphics card for laptops in 2025: the mobile GPUs I'd want in my next gaming laptop Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most Best 14-inch gaming laptop in 2025: The top compact gaming laptops I've held in these hands Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I've tested Razer Joro & Basilisk Mobile review Glorious Model O Eternal review LaCie Rugged Pro 5 SSD review Seagate Ultra Compact review Nacon Revolution X Unlimited review PC Gamer is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. Contact Future's experts Terms and conditions Privacy policy Cookies policy Advertise with us Accessibility Statement Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885. Please login or signup to comment Please wait...