Overwatch's next patch will require players to reinstall the game

Blizzard’s next big update for Overwatch apparently contains “some pretty fundamental changes” – fundamental enough that players will be required to reinstall their game. Details on what the patch will contain are light, but apparently a "substantial number" of "back-end changes" mean that simply patching over the existing download isn't enough.

“We know that this isn’t ideal for people on metered connections, so hopefully this announcement helps you prepare for this coming update,” a customer support employee wrote in a forum post. They haven’t yet confirmed when the update will be launched, but outlaw gunslinger Ashe and her robo-sidekick Bob are currently playable on the Public Test Region. In the past, that’s meant the hero will be released within a couple of weeks.

These two don’t seem to be the reason for the reinstall, though – in a statement provided to Kotaku the developers said the patch tinkers with a lot of things under the hood to improve load times, optimise memory, and fix bugs. They also noted that there are back-end changes coming to “support future content,” which has fans speculating about long-awaited features like a match replay viewer.

Overwatch requires 30GB of hard drive space, though Blizzard notes that those who have the PTR installed can expect a “significantly smaller” download.