Overwatch 2 devs explain why balanced matchmaking is harder in lower ranks

Overwatch 2 developers have responded to concerns about ongoing matchmaking woes and revealed why it’s difficult to have balanced matches in lower ranks.

Matchmaking in Overwatch 2 has been a very hot topic as of late, with many players saying their games have been ruined due to users with wildly different skill levels being put in the same match.

Although the devs are aware of this and are making a bunch of changes behind the scenes, it seems like these issues are, for the time being, still ongoing.

In a series of posts, Game Director Aaron Keller addressed the criticism and explained that more tweaks are being implemented to help create balanced matches, but warned that it is much more difficult in lower ranks.

Overwatch 2 Director blames teams for unbalanced matches

On Twitter, Keller explained that the team was working hard on reducing matches with wide skill ranges and that updates were introduced on Monday, with another coming on Tuesday.

“The matchmaker had some configuration issues that caused an increase in these matches over the past week. We think these have been addressed and tomorrow’s changes should improve it more,” he said, apologizing for the quality of matches.

The matchmaker had some configuration issues that caused an increase in these matches over the past week. We think these have been addressed and tomorrow's changes should improve it more. Sorry for the trouble and thanks again for all the reports and feedback! 🙏

— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) February 28, 2023

When a player brought up a recent blog post where Keller said the team was trying to bring down the wide range of raked tiers showing up in Top 500 games and if that would be applied to all players, the director didn’t mince words.

“We will attempt to bring it down for all players and should have more controls to do that with our mid season patch,” he said before adding a caveat. “However it’s harder to do that for lower ranks since it’s possible for players to form groups with wider skill ranges.”

We will attempt to bring it down for all players and should have more controls to do that with our mid season patch. However it’s harder to do that for lower ranks since it’s possible for players to form groups with wider skill ranges.

— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) February 28, 2023

It’s not clear if the new changes will finally end up rectifying these issues or not, but the problems may need other solutions in lower ranks to deal with groups of players queuing together.

One solution could be the creation of a pure solo-queue option, just like how console players can choose to disable crossplay. Whether or not the devs have something like this in mind, however, remains unknown.