How To Access The Overwatch 2 Beta In Australia [Updated]

Update 30/4/22:

If you missed out on the Overwatch 2 beta access event on Twitch this week, good news: you’ll have another chance to get access in the week ahead. The 2022 Overwatch League esports competition kicks off this week. During OWL broadcasts, Blizzard will grant 1500 viewers access to the beta per hour. Pending a late ballot win, this will now be your best chance to get in. The Overwatch League opening weekend begins in Australia on Friday, May 6th at 5:00 am AEST and runs through to Monday, May 9th. Same deal as the last Twitch event: connect your Battle.net account to your Twitch and make sure you’ve got the official Overwatch League stream running while the broadcast is live. Good luck, heroes.

1500 beta keys released PER HOUR 🔑

If you haven’t gotten into the #Overwatch2 PVP Beta yet, worry not!

You’ll have another opportunity to win access by watching #OWL2022 during Opening Weekend! pic.twitter.com/3fcIqEk2oy

— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) April 27, 2022

For those that participated in the last Twitch event, watched their four hours of gameplay, but haven’t yet received Overwatch 2 beta access, Blizzard’s been looking into it. It now says this may be the result of an incorrectly linked Battle.net account. The good news is that you can fix it up and still get the access you’re owed. Follow the steps laid out here and see if that helps.

We have finished investigating reports for players who have claimed their Beta drop but not yet received access to the Beta:

Many of these players have not yet actually linked their https://t.co/qPyOohSJt6 account to their Twitch account and must do that first
(1/2)

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) April 28, 2022

Original post continues below.

There will be a lot of players logging into Battle.net this morning hoping to see they’ve won access to the Overwatch 2 tech beta. Some of you will be elated, others will be disappointed. Hats off to those who’ve made it in! This piece isn’t for you, it’s for the ones who, for whatever reason, didn’t make the cut.

If you haven’t got access yet, or you aren’t sure how to get in, don’t worry! Blizzard has set up a way you can get an invite for the beta’s official launch.

How to get in

All you have to do is log onto Twitch today, connect your Battle.net account to your Twitch profile, and watch at least four hours of Overwatch 2 streams from a curated list of streamers. After that, you’ll have access to the beta yourself. You can find out more, and see the full list of approved streamers, right over here.

So, okay, as golden tickets go, that seems like a pretty easy one to get. What’s the catch?

The catch is that the reward window for racking up those four hours of viewing kicks off at 3:00 am AEDT and runs through to 11:00 am. Once unlocked, beta access will appear in the Game Menu drop-down on the Overwatch page in the Battle.net launcher.

Look. I know. For most of Australia, this is happening in the middle of the night, in the middle of the week. It’s not exactly prime time. Perhaps one day American companies will remember that timezones exist outside of America.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that you won’t actually have to watch four hours of Overwatch 2. Instead, just be prepared. Get your account connected to Twitch early. Set an alarm for 1 am, leave a few streams playing, and go back to bed. When you wake up in the morning, you’ll be in like Flynn.

One final note: the Overwatch 2 beta will not have Australian servers at launch, so ping is going to be a bit all over the place. Forewarned is forearmed.

When do I have to watch these streamers to get access to the Overwatch 2 beta?

See below for times in your state/territory:

ACT, NSW, QLD, TAS, VIC

Thursday, 28th April 2022

3:00 am – 11:00 am

NT, SA

Thursday, 28th April 2022

2:30 am – 10:00 am

WA

Thursday, 28th April 2022

1:00 am – 9:00am