Overwatch developer talks about uneven matchmaking in the game

Blizzard published the second part of its Overwatch 2 developer blog on January 30. In which they describe the matchmaking, ranking, and long-term goals of the game. At the very least, the developers have attempted to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about the game; even if they don’t have all the answers.

Overwatch 2 development blog

In the publication, the Blizzard developer states that they are aware of all the comments from the community about the games with a lot of inequality; and they are looking for a solution to this problem.

“We allow players to group even when there’s a difference in the MMR between party members, and this is a major source of wide skill disparities in matches. We’re working on some changes that will match parties with similar MMR disparities together more frequently, which we expect to noticeably reduce how often we make wide matches. This will make it much less likely for a solo player or a party with a narrow skill disparity to end up in a match with a wide skill disparity.”

On the other hand, the Blizzard developer also expresses that community feedback is of great help to the whole team; thanks to them, they can understand the cause and how to reduce the frequency of uneven games.

“This is a tricky problem because one-sided matches can happen in Overwatch, even between balanced teams. So, our first step has been to study the problem and understand the various factors that can cause one-sided matches.”

While there is no solution, the developers intend to make another blog post later and share details of the findings.

Question and answer sesión

In the post’s extensive Q&A, Brandon “Seagull” Larned, a former OW pro, offered Blizzard advice on the controversial topic of disproportionately one-sided games even though Blizzard has no compelling justification for games can be so lopsided.

Seagull has commented on unbalanced games

“This is what I’ve been saying for a long time,”

“I kind of saw it a lot as a pro player too, even two different pro teams where a lot of the players were similar in skill; Overwatch is such a snowbally game that even small differences and small advantages slowly lead into one person gets picked; and you’re four-vs-five and you kind of know that you’re probably screwed because maybe they have an extra ult than you and there’s not much that you can do.”

While it is likely that the Blizzard team will obtain additional data to support Seagull’s theory. There is still hope for people who wish to play competitively. Seagull also noted that this problem has improved over time.

“There’s a lot of situations in Overwatch, more so than other games, where the moment you load in, or the moment you get put into situations, you kind of know it’s over,”

“Overwatch 2 actually has this a lot less than Overwatch one. Overwatch 1 had this problem so much more.”

Plans for the near future

The Overwatch experience constantly evolves, from game modes, heroes, and new maps to explore.

The developer commented:

“In the long term, we’re planning to provide new ways for players to share a challenging and competitive experience in Overwatch 2—we’ll share more on this down the road. That said, matchmaking improvements are an evergreen area of focus for the team; and we’ll stay focused on testing and deploying continuous improvements to our matchmaking algorithm.”

Header: Blizzard Entertainment