Summary
The best moments in multiplayer games likeOverwatch 2often happen with friends. This is especially fun when it occurs during a Competitive game and everyone gets some progression points. Realistically, however, people often queue up with friends on casual modes like Quickplay because of rank differences. TheOverwatch 2team plans on fixing this issue in Season 10 with its upcoming “Competitive Wide Groups” update.
The developers announced this Competitive group update in its Defense Matrix blog post. These entries usually talk about improvements that its team develops to make the game safe and inclusive. Apart from Wide Groups, the dev team also plans on releasing these updates inOverwatch 2Season 10and beyond:
How Overwatch 2’s Competitive Wide Groups Work
Starting in Season 10, players can queue up with their friends on Competitive regardless of their rank difference. Parties with vast differences in their divisions will be classified as “Wide Groups,” and they can only play with other Wide Groups with a similar rank composition. Here’s what classifies as one in each division:
Solo players will be placed in “Narrow Groups,” which will strictly consist of people within their skill level. This ensures that they don’t get placed in matches with Wide Groups.
The Pros and Cons of Overwatch 2’s Wide Groups
What’s great aboutOverwatch 2’s upcoming Wide Groups update is that people can get a fun yet challenging experience when playing with friends, as they can queue up with similarly-ranked players. As of now, players can only queue up with friends in different skill tiers on Quickplay and other Unranked modes, which often leads to stomps for their team or their opponents because of the huge variation in skill level. This improvement also discourages higher-ranked players fromcreating or buying alternateOverwatchaccountsto play with their lower-skill-tier friends in Competitive mode.
While the Wide Groups update is an excellent addition to the ranked experience, it comes with a few caveats. For one, ranked progression in this party type will be slower the larger the gap is between its participants. This prevents players from boosting their friends from lower divisions into skill tiers they’ll end up struggling in. However, it also evens things out by cushioning players from massive rank downs if their party gets stomped.
How Wide Groups Could Affect Queue Times
The queue times for Wide Groups will naturally be longer too, asOverwatch 2’s Role Delta system will have to take its time to ensure that the party will be matched with another Wide Group with a similar rank variation. Four-player Wide Groups will not be allowed, either. They won’t randomly find a fifth player anyway because solo players don’t exist in the queuing pool as them. The devs also noted in the blog post that the Wide Groups system won’t always provide games with perfectly matched ranks. This is because every party is unique in terms of skill level. Two to three-player groups are also beholden to theOverwatch 2’s Role Queuesystem to find similarly-ranked teammates to fill the party.
Wide Groups will drop in Season 10, which will begin on Aug 02, 2025. However, it’s not clear if theOWteam will release it exactly when the new season starts. The devs seem to have covered all the bases to keep this Competitive update fun and fair for everyone, even the solo players. Only time will tell if it will enrich the ranked experience or bring the chaos of Quickplay to Competitive, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Overwatch 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Overwatch 2 is an always-on and ever-evolving free-to-play, team-based action game set in an optimistic future, where every match is the ultimate 5v5 battlefield brawl. Power up your railgun and disrupt the battlefield as Sojourn, or yield your axe and command attention as Junker Queen. Battle to take control of a robot and move it toward the enemy base in the new Push Mode. Bring the fight to new destinations across the globe in iconic locations like New York, Rome, Monte Carlo and Rio. Daily challenges and frequent updates mean there is always something new to play.
