During last week's Gamescom, Blizzard took the opportunity to showcase some new content arriving at "Overwatch." This includes the new map called Junkertown, which they announced will be set in the Australian outback. Junkertown is home to Junkrat and Roadhog and is described as an Escort map that is "harsh and unforgiving," given that it was built "from the remains of a destroyed omnium," and is now the residence of the Junkers, a group of lawless scavengers led by a queen. A trailer was also released for the new map, which was made available to the "Overwatch" PTR on August 29.
According to Gamespot, the new Junkertown map was made available to select PC players in the PTR.
New map only available on the PTR
As with any new content, the new "Overwatch" map is currently only available on the PTR and for PC players only. It is yet unclear when the plan will arrive in users on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Players can check out the details of the Junkertown map in a short trailer that Blizzard released last week, embedded below.
Junkertown controversy causes Blizzard to apologize
Last week, the new map for "Overwatch" was met with controversy following sign on the map that says "take-out" instead of "take-away." This caused game director Jeff Kaplan to write on Reddit, "I'd like to offer a direct apology to the entire country of Australia.
Please forgive our cultural insensitivity." He also promised that an upcoming patch would fix the error, as per Gamespot. In a report from Kotaku, some players also pointed out that a line in the trailer said, "They thought they could take our land and give it to the machines." This was also met with controversy, given Australia's history with indigenous groups.
Junkertown features and what to look forward to
According to PC Gamers, there are quite a few interesting details to look forward to when the new "Overwatch" map Junkertown makes its way to the rest of the players outside the PTR. For one, there's a "massive gladiatorial arena" where residents of Junkertown fight to earn money and fame.
There's also a Scrapyard, where Junkertown folks hang out to "blow off steam" after a hard day's work at the omnium's skeleton, where they gather anything of value and trade it.
"Overwatch" is directed by Jeffrey Kaplan, Chris Metzen, and Aaron Keller, and released under the Blizzard Entertainment brand. For more information, visit playoverwatch.com.