Overwatch Anniversary 2021 Event Announced

Happy birthday, Overwatch! Blizzard has announced this year's Overwatch Anniversary event.

The announcement was made on Twitter via the official Overwatch (OW) profile in a tweet published at noon on Sunday, May 16. The brief "party on the payload" text was accompanied by a short video clip featuring several popular Overwatch characters dancing front and center in their various skins released over the years. Among these were Witch Mercy, Werewolf Winston, Grillmaster: 76, Junkenstein's Monster Roadhog, and a host of Brigittes including OW Anniversary 2018's Shieldmaiden.

Overwatch Anniversary 2021 Event Announced

The event will kick off on Tuesday, May 18, and run through to Tuesday, June 8—an approximately three-week duration. This is the fifth year of celebration for Overwatch as the game originally launched in 2016.

As always, the Anniversary event is meant to celebrate another year of Overwatch gameplay. The true anniversary date is May 24, but why make a party last a day when you can push it to nearly an entire month?

No concrete details about the celebration have been revealed just yet. Fans will likely learn more throughout the day leading up to the 2021 Anniversary launch. Traditionally, however, we can expect this year's festivities to follow suit with its predecessors, including loot boxes and new inspired maps.

Players can unlock different Anniversary cosmetics, voice lines, sprays, emotes, and more, by collecting boxes or manually unlocking them via the Hero Gallery.