Overwatch’s Summer Games event returns Aug. 8

Overwatch’s original seasonal event, Summer Games, will return to the game on Tuesday, Aug. 8, Blizzard Entertainment announced today. This year’s version of the Summer Games event will include new skins and updates to the Lúcioball game mode, as well as the return of cosmetics that were released last year.

Lúcioball will return to Overwatch as a limited-time event, and this year Blizzard is adding a new stadium, Sydney, alongside the returning Rio stadium map. The developer is also changing some of the rules for Lúcioball; Blizzard has removed the ability to “boop” enemies with Lúcio’s Soundwave attack and has changed the way his ultimate ability works. It no longer pulls the ball toward the player, Blizzard said, and instead increases Lúcio’s speed and the speed of his “boop.”

Blizzard is also introducing a competitive ranked mode for Lúcioball.

Overwatch’s Summer Games 2017 will also include a variety of new cosmetics, and for players who missed out on the skins, sprays and emotes last year (because Blizzard wouldn’t let players purchase those cosmetics with credits), Blizzard is selling Summer Games 2016 content at a reduced cost.

Here’s the breakdown from Blizzard:

New 2017 Summer Games Cosmetic Items will cost the following:
Legendary Skins will cost 3,000 credits
Epic Skins will cost 750 credits
Rare tier will cost 225 credits
Common tier will cost 75 credits

Previous Summer Games cosmetics will be available at a reduced cost:
Legendary Skins will cost 1,000 credits
Epic Skins will cost 250 credits
Rare tier will cost 75 credits

Overwatch’s Summer Games 2017 event will run Aug. 8-29 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.

Here’s Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan discussing Summer Games 2017 in a developer update video.