UPDATE 12:42 p.m.: In light of the leak on the IGN website, Blizzard has confirmed in a blog post that "Overwatch" is indeed coming to stores on May 24.
Leaks are like Christmas to some in the gaming community, providing a chance to learn about various facets of a game before it hits the shelves. This time around, the leak pertains to the release date of Blizzard's upcoming multiplayer shooter "Overwatch," which was revealed ahead of an official Blizzard press release.
Usually communities have to rely on data miners or "insiders" to provide such information, but this time around the information was leaked thanks to an advertisement on IGN, which revealed that "Overwatch" will be available on May 24.
The advertisement has since been taken down (for obvious reasons) but a quick-thinking user on Reddit managed to capture the image and post it there for all the world to see.
Along with the release date, the ad campaign also promises open beta/early access for those that pre-order the game. It indicates that the beta will begin May 3 but the window to join it closes on April 29.
The news isn't official yet, as Blizzard is a publicly traded company and has to do things formally, however the ad looks fairly legit. Furthermore, it falls in line with the company's previous statements, where it said that the game would be available on or before June 1. Blizzard has yet to comment about the development.
"Overwatch's" journey to reach this point has been a long one. Announced during Blizzcon 2014, a shooting game seemed like the natural next-step for Blizzard, which had already made a name for itself in the RPG, MOBA, RTS and card-playing genres.
The game was initially marketed as a PC exclusive. However, this changed in 2015 when Blizzard announced that the upcoming shooter would make its way to Xbox One and PS4. "Overwatch" is not free-to-play, much like Blizzard's other blockbuster franchises "Starcraft" and "Diablo," but won't require monthly payments like "World of Warcraft." Despite the game coming to consoles, Blizzard noted that the game won't support cross-platform play due to advantages PC players might have.
"Overwatch" is scheduled to have DLC coming in the weeks after its release, but game director Jeff Kaplan announced that all of these will be free.
