Overwatch's competitive mode will be patched up soon, Blizzard assures

Blizzard launched the competitive playlist for Overwatch last week, but the roll out hasn't been without its problems. A patch has already been issued to normalise Skill Ratings across all game modes, but users are still experiencing problems with the way penalties are doled out to disconnecting players. 

In the event of a mid-game disconnection due to network failure, players are put back into their current game (where possible) and any penalty they'd otherwise get for exiting the game is cancelled. Except, that isn't working as it's intended. According to several users on Battle.net, when they re-enter their current game they either receive a loss (even when their team wins) or take a hit on their Skill Rating.

Game Director Jeff Kaplan eventually weighed in on the forums, but he didn't elaborate on the issue, other than to say that the team is working on it. "We have some fixes coming (hopefully) next week," he wrote.

As someone living in the connectivity backwater of Australia, I've been reluctant to jump into Competitive because of far-too-common internet problems, so hopefully the forthcoming patch will assuage those fears. 

Shaun Prescott

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.