New Overwatch 2 competitive mode sets the table for tournaments

pcgamesn.com:

Overwatch 2 tournaments could be coming, giving you a chance to get that spirit of competition flowing in the multiplayer game – but Blizzard is testing the waters first with the introduction of a new ranked Overwatch 2 competitive mode. Game director Aaron Keller talks about the new format, as well as addressing snowball mechanics and one-sided stomps, in his latest Overwatch 2 director’s take, and it might mean the arrival of a long-requested format.

Overwatch 2 season 5 brings a bunch of new game modes, including the creator-made ‘Defeat the Demon Lord,’ ‘Winston’s Beach Volleyball’ for this year’s Summer Games, and a prop hunt-style ‘Magic and Mischief.’ It’s the fourth mode that Keller takes extra time to dig into in this blog, however – and its a five-on-five ranked mini-season.

This is a special competitive mode where you’ll need to premake a five-stack to queue up for matches, meaning it’ll always be between ostensibly coordinated teams (although I might not describe myself and my pals as the most structured unit; we have fun though). “If this proves popular,” Keller remarks, “it could open the door for other types of competition in our game that are based on teams (like an internal tournament system or mode).”

The idea of in-game tournaments has long been suggested by players, so there’s certainly a segment of the audience that’ll be pretty happy to hear of it. Keller goes further, saying the mode “could potentially force us to take a harder look at the way we treat grouping restrictions in our current system,” where players are forced to only group with players of comparable skill level, with increasing restrictions as you move up the ranks to a point where Grandmaster players can only group with one other