Overwatch 2 adds competitive to second beta after player demand, sort of

At the request of players, Blizzard Entertainment has announced that Overwatch 2’s second beta will boast a competitive experience – kind of.

Competitive play in Overwatch serves as the franchise’s ranked play mode, matching users against one another based on Skill Rankings. By most accounts, competitive does a better job of accurately pitting players against their equals than traditional matchmaking.

As a fan-favorite way to play the hero shooter, it should come as no surprise that those looking forward to Overwatch 2’s next beta have put in many requests for the mode’s inclusion.

And it seems that, for the most part, Blizzard took those appeals to heart while planning content for the upcoming beta period.

Overwatch 2’s second beta will get competitive

In a message to the community concerning its “beta testing goals,” Blizzard Entertainment revealed that Overwatch 2’s forthcoming beta will add a “partial” version of competitive.

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This scaled-back iteration of the experience represents an answer to user demands while allowing developers to continue designing a reworked competitive mode for launch.

Blizzard explained the logistics of the lesser competitive mode in part: “…we’ve decided to enable a partial competitive ruleset that will allow teams to play out the full maps while still having backfills if a player disconnects.”

Blizzard hosted the first Overwatch 2 beta from April 26 through May 17, giving PC players a chance to participate in the all-new experience – sans competitive mode.

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The next beta test goes live on June 28 and will come to an end on July 19. And, fortunately, users across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S will have a chance to join the fun this time around.

Those who miss out need not fret, however. Developers recently hinted in an interview with content creator Potxeca that a third Overwatch 2 beta session could arrive before the sequel’s October release.