Overwatch 2 devs explain why they refuse to add rank below Bronze: “It’s just being mean”

Overwatch 2 devs explain why they refuse to add a rank below Bronze as it’s simply “mean” to low elo players, and could potentially incentivize throwing in Bronze.

With the release of Overwatch 2 Season 9’s Competitive overhaul, a lot has been added and changed. From a total rank reset across the board to new Competitive weapon skins, there’s plenty to digest. 

Though most importantly, the overhaul also brought with it a completely new rank, Champion, which serves as a higher tier above Grandmaster. 

However, it seems the devs aren’t willing to add another rank on the opposite side of the spectrum as adding a rank below Bronze is “just being mean” to low elo players, devs have argued. 

Talking to Overwatch streamer mL7, Systems Designer for Overwatch 2 Gavin Winter discussed the game’s competitive system. In which the topic of identifying Bronze players’ skill levels was brought up. 

He admitted that there is a difference between Bronze 1 and Bronze 5 lobbies, however, explained that the team was most likely not going to add a tier below Bronze to separate them. 

“I think it’s funny to talk about a Plastic tier, Cardboard tier, or whatever… But I don’t think we’ll probably ever do that,” Winter said. “It’s almost just being mean to Bronze 5 players.” 

Despite entertaining and being amused by the idea, Winter revealed that if they were to add it, it could potentially incentivize throwing in lower ranks. 

“What you would be doing is creating a Champion equivalent of Bronze, and that’s actually bad from a psychological standpoint because it then becomes a reason to throw,” Winters said of a lower rank below Bronze. 

“If you show that as a goal, then people will want to peacock it essentially. They want to get that and they want to say, ‘Look at me, I’m Cardboard 5’ or whatever. And that’s incentivizing throwing. So, we don’t want to do that.”