Blizzard Entertainment has revealed how Overwatch 2’s matchmaking system works, providing insights into how it pairs players against one another in its core and Stadium playlists.
Esports Insider breaks down everything shared through the blog post by Blizzard, and how it fairs against matchmaking systems in other competitive titles.
According to Blizzard, matchmaking aims to create a fair game where both teams have an equal chance of winning. As a result, factors such as hero choices, strategies and ‘big plays’ should ideally determine the outcome of a match.
Blizzard achieves this through assigning every player a matchmaking rating (MMR) as an indicator of skill. Players would view this as their rank, for example, Silver two, while the game views it as a data point on a curve with 0.0 as the centre. The game then attempts to pair a player’s rating with that of others with the exact skill range, or within a close range if unsuccessful.
The developers also use other systems to shape a match. Role Delta follows a similar premise to MMR, but applies to individual roles. For example, within each team, the game will try to match the MMR of both Tanks.
The blog also highlights the rank distribution in Overwatch 2’s competitive playlist:
- Bronze – 2.4%
- Silver – 12.6%
- Gold – 31.7%
- Platinum – 34.9%
- Diamond – 14.9%
- Master – 3.2%
- Grandmaster – 0.3%
- Champion – <0.1%
In addition, Blizzard detailed how Overwatch 2 Stadium match-making works. It has its own separate MMR, which works as a ‘goal post’ for players to work towards as they play more matches.
Ranks reset after each season, and so everyone begins as a Rookie and works their way up. As a result, there are times when lobbies are comprised of players of different ranks.
How Overwatch 2 Matchmaking Compares to Other Games
Overwatch 2’s matchmaking system shares similarities with other competitive games, particularly when it comes to MMR.
Riot Games shapes League of Legends matches through League Points (LP) and MMR. LP is what players earn or lose during ranked games, in which reaching 100 or 0 LP will allow them to move up or down a division. Advancing up or falling down multiple divisions sees a player change ranks as a visual representation of current skill, such as Silver or Gold.
In League of Legends, MMR has become the sole means of pairing players together since Season 13. It has a range called Variance, which groups players into a match if they overlap.
However, other games, like Call of Duty, have different priorities. In a blog post online last year, it stated that the ‘most heavily weighted factor’ is connection. It evaluates a metric called Delta Ping, which is the difference in data trips between a data centre closest to the player and the centre assigned to the lobby.
Call of Duty also considers player skill. The ‘skill’ of a player is defined by their overall performance, such as number of kills, deaths, wins, losses and more. This applies to all modes, from Kill Confirmed to Hardpoint.
Esports games have different focuses when it comes to matchmaking. Games like Overwatch 2 value a balanced match above all else, while others highlight connection stability and performance.
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