New Overwatch 2 Event is Exclusive to China

Overwatch 2 is getting an exciting new music festival event that’ll only be available to players in China. The eighteenth season of Overwatch 2 began nearly a month ago, introducing the latest support hero, Wuyang, to the game’s ever-growing roster of playable characters. Season 18 also brought a collab with NBA superstar and Overwatch fan Luka Dončić, giving players an opportunity to earn 77 total loot boxes via in-game challenges.

This isn’t the first time Overwatch 2 has hosted a music-themed event, as its collaboration with K-pop group LE SSERAFIM went live in 2023, bringing a host of hero skins to the game based on the group’s members. LE SSERAFIM returned to Overwatch 2 earlier this year, bringing even more skins for Mercy, Juno, Ashe, Illari, and D.Va, and giving fans an opportunity to nab the first round of skins from the in-game shop. This year has also seen Overwatch play host to collabs with G.I. Joe, Capcom’s Street Fighter 6, the popular NERF toy brand, and, perhaps the biggest of all, Persona 5‘s Phantom Thieves.

Overwatch 2's Neon Pulse Music Festival Event is Only Available in China

Overwatch 2 is gearing up for another big in-game event, though this one comes with a catch. The Neon Pulse Music Festival event is set to go live exclusively in the Chinese version of Overwatch 2 on Wednesday, September 24. The main course of the event is its “Rhythmwatch” rhythm mini-game, which is shown very briefly in the event’s trailer. A dedicated “festival pass” will be part of the event, as will a set of five music festival-themed Neon Pulse skins for Ashe, Juno, Mercy, Pharah, and Sombra.

It’s not known why this Neon Pulse event will only be available to Chinese players, but luckily, the five hero skins will be made available to Overwatch 2 players everywhere, likely as in-store bundles. Still, many worldwide Overwatch fans are disappointed that they’ll miss out on the fun-looking rhythm game and the other battle pass rewards. There’s a chance that some of the smaller Neon Pulse cosmetics that are part of the festival pass could be included in the shop bundles, but fans will need to wait until they go live on September 24 to see exactly what they contain or whether it’s just the five skins that are going up for grabs.

Season 18 of Overwatch 2 is just about halfway over, but Blizzard still has more fun content going on before the next season kicks off. The Persona 5 Phantom Thieves collab event is still ongoing until September 29, and the game is in the middle of its Anniversary 2025 event, which sees the return of an old game mode and Overwatch Classic weekly until October 13. Overwatch 2‘s nineteenth season is expected to go live on October 14, so fans should keep an eye out for new info in the weeks leading up to next season.