Overwatch 2 Stadium Ranked restored to Bo7: “We need to let new ideas cook longer internally before they head to your queues.”

Overwatch 2 has reverted its competitive Stadium matches to best-of-seven (Bo7) ones after player feedback on the best-of-five (Bo5) format. The change happened last week, and the Overwatch 2 team just shared more information about the update.

On Oct. 30, Overwatch 2 reverted competitive Stadium matches to the Bo7 format due to player feedback. According to game director Aaron Keller, the Bo5 format, introduced at the start of Overwatch 2 Season 19, didn't feel quite right. Bo7, on the other hand, allows room for more strategy, comebacks, and adaptation.

Then, on Nov. 7, an official post explained the decision in more detail. The post stated the switch to Bo5 in Season 19 was meant to speed up matches. However, that received ongoing negative feedback as many players missed the strategy, counterplay, and comeback potential of longer series.

"When we add a new feature or make a big change, sometimes initial community feedback skews negative but evens out as time goes on and players get acclimated," the post stated. "We noticed this didn’t happen when it came to Stadium Ranked going to [Bo5]."

The post then promised that future Stadium features will take more time to develop internally before release to ensure higher-quality updates.

"Stadium is all about experimentation and testing new ways to play and enjoy Overwatch. That said, we’ll be taking more time with feature releases for Stadium in the future. Two big reversions (Mirrored Drafts and this change) in such a short period tells us we need to let new ideas cook longer internally before they head to your queues," the post explained. We’re aiming to provide higher-quality features instead of quick-fire updates for Stadium, so stay tuned for more."

Players who prefer shorter matches can still experience the Bo5 format in Quick Play Stadium.

That's all for now. Stick around on esports.gg for more Overwatch 2 news and updates.