Overwatch – the hyper-polished and cartoon-cute multiplayer FPS – has been out for a little while now and it’s fair to say it has been moderately successful (Battleborn who?) but a lot of people have been waiting for one thing: Overwatch Competitive Play.
Don’t all rush straight at Overwatch Competitive Play, though: there’s a minimum level of 25, to ensure all competitive players are familiar with the game’s mechanics, maps, and heroes. Apparently.
Here’s the details on the format and schedule for Overwatch Competitive Play, direct from Blizzard:
Before starting the competitive career, every new player must first complete 10 placement matches in order to obtain their initial skill rating. This rating will be a number between 1 and 100, with higher values indicating a greater skill level. Skill ratings will be visible at the beginning of every match. As you compete, your rating will increase or decrease with each win or loss based on a number of factors, including your own performance and the skill of the other players in the match.
Competitive Play will consist of four seasons, each lasting two and a half months. During that time, players can increase their skill rating and battle their way up the ranks before the stats are reset at the end of the season. This is followed by a two-week offseason, after which a new season will commence, beginning with a new set of placement matches. The names of these seasons, along with their schedule, will mirror the seasons in the northern hemisphere—and the Summer 2016 season is already underway!
There will also be cosmetic bonuses for Overwatch Competitive Play punters, and a global leaderboard that highlights the 500 best players globally, if you care about that sort of thing.
The Overwatch Competitive Play mode is available now, in all regions, for PC players; the PS4 and Xbox One release is to follow, but no firm date has been given by Blizzard just yet.
Source: Overwatch blog
