Overwatch 2 brought down the skill gap between players in high and low MMR matches. Here’s how matchmaking now works in the game.
Overwatch 2's matchmaking system has undergone some significant changes. In an update, game director Aaron Keller shared insights about how matchmaking works in Overwatch 2. Read on for details about Overwatch 2 MMR, skill gaps, and what to expect in Season 4.
"Over the past week, we’ve made changes to the system that have brought down the skill gap between players in a match significantly for high and low MMR matches."
Overwatch 2 MMR updates
Recent changes to the MMR system significantly decreased the skill gap between players in high and low MMR matches, according to Keller. The two peaks in the image below indicate poor match quality in Season 3 for the high-ranked group. It also represents the impact of the recent updates on bringing that back down.
For Overwatch 2 Grandmaster players and above, about 50% of matches had an MMR range of four to five divisions. Meanwhile, 25% of matches had a difference of five to six divisions. The worst 1% of matches pertained to approximately 10 divisions. Since grouping affected a significant aspect of this skill gap, Masters grouped with players who were up to five divisions apart.
Keller went over this on Twitter as well.
How does Overwatch 2 ranked MMR work?
According to Keller, the Overwatch 2 matchmaker looks for players who have the closest MMR to each other possible. The tool then expands the player pool with larger skill differences.
Before Overwatch 2 Season 3, the matchmaker controlled this rate of expansion for each queue independently. In Season 3, however, the tool changed in terms of how it expanded over time. Some of the control over each queue changed, meaning that to reduce the size of skill differences in Competitive, the same had to be done for Arcade and Unranked.
"If we wanted to get shorter queue times for Unranked by expanding skill difference requirements, we could do that, but then Competitive would have wider skill differences, too," Keller explained in a post.
How Overwatch 2 matchmaking works
In the Overwatch 2 March 7 patch, Blizzard implemented a systemic update. This allowed for more flexibility in terms of tuning these queues separately while enabling new ways to update the system. According to Keller, more changes will happen in Overwatch 2 Season 4.
"Competitive can once again have its own set of parameters for how wide the skill gap can be that are separate from our other modes," he said. "This week, we will be tuning these values to tighten the skill gap in Competitive as much as possible while keeping an eye on queue times for that mode."
The team added the ability to sort parties by a similar player delta. This means players can be in similar parties that minimize role delta while enjoying lower party queue times.
"It also concentrates wide parties together, which has made a dent in our player MMR delta," Keller explained.
That's all for now. Stay tuned on Esports.gg for more Overwatch 2 news and updates.