An Overwatch 2 developer explained why Blizzard has trouble with fair matchmaking for lower-ranked players. Poor Matchmaking has been a common criticism of the game, which developers have been working hard to fix. However, lower-ranked players present a unique problem that Overwatch 2's developers struggle to address.Launching in October 2022, Overwatch 2 is the sequel to and replacement for Blizzard's massively popular multiplayer hero shooter, with the company shutting down the original Overwatch servers a few days before the new game went live. Overwatch 2 saw mixed reviews at launch, with some critics feeling that the new game has lost some of its predecessor's originality and unique charm. Still, there is no denying the game's success, with Overwatch 2 hitting 35 million players just one week after launch.Poor PvP matchmaking has been a common criticism of Overwatch 2 since the beta. It's been especially bad recently, with many players complaining that they are being matched with opponents of wildly different skill levels. However, Blizzard developers are working to address the issue, with Game Director Aaron Keller announcing a pair of updates that should address some of the problems. However, when asked about matchmaking for lower-ranked players, he explained that it was more difficult because low-ranking players have a much wider range of skill levels within the same bracket.
According to Keller, the recent uptick in unbalanced matches was due to a configuration issue with Overwatch 2's matchmaking software. The development team attempted to correct this with a pair of fixes, the first releasing on February 27 and the second on February 28. While this may not solve the problem completely, it should make Overwatch 2 matches significantly fairer than they were previously.
Shortly after Keller's tweets, the streamer and YouTuber Shawn Games replied, thanking him for the information but also asking a follow-up question. The content creator wanted to know whether Blizzard planned to reduce the matchmaking range to within four or five ranks for all players rather than only the top 500 as it is now. Keller replied that Blizzard was attempting to do so and would have more tools at their disposal after launching Overwatch 2's next mid-season patch.
However, this is also where Keller explained the difficulties of balancing matchmaking for lower-ranked players. So, while the senior Blizzard employee seems confident in his team's ability to improve Overwatch 2's matchmaking, players should not expect the problem to disappear entirely.
Overwatch 2 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.