{"id":1188620,"date":"2026-02-16T19:28:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:28:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wANoB944JsbtMzKNBTauZA"},"modified":"2026-02-16T19:28:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:28:35","slug":"we-were-literally-held-hostage-overwatch-2-players-are-finding-the-matchmaking-in-stadium-tough-but-the-devs-say-theyre-working-on-a-couple-of-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/we-were-literally-held-hostage-overwatch-2-players-are-finding-the-matchmaking-in-stadium-tough-but-the-devs-say-theyre-working-on-a-couple-of-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We were literally held hostage’: Overwatch 2 players are finding the matchmaking in Stadium tough, but the devs say they’re working on a couple of solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It’s been a couple of weeks since Blizzard launched Stadium in Overwatch 2<\/a>, and since then, it’s been an enjoyable, albeit bumpy ride. Apparently, the new mode only uses internal MMR for matchmaking, but even still, players are encountering a bit of mismatch.<\/p>\n

“We were literally held hostage in Stadium,” one player says<\/a>. “Got trapped in Stadium by the enemy team with four randoms against a five-stack. They held us hostage in the match and said: ‘We won’t finish the game until one of you leaves.’<\/p>\n

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Best of the best<\/div>\n
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\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Larian Studios)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2025 games<\/strong><\/a>: Upcoming releases
<\/strong>Best PC games<\/strong><\/a>: All-time favorites
Free PC games<\/strong><\/a>: Freebie fest
Best FPS games<\/strong><\/a>: Finest gunplay
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“When we tried to go for the objective, they killed us, refused to capture it themselves, and just camped us in front of our base to farm us for 10 – 15 minutes. Why the hell is this kind of matchmaking even possible? We all reported them, but as always, nothing happens. Who at Blizzard had the brain fart to match Gold players against Diamonds or even Masters? Who is supposed to enjoy these games? It\u2019s absolutely infuriating.”<\/p>\n

Overwatch 2 matches have and will always be a coin flip<\/a>. Most Overwatch 2 players have a 50% win rate, which, besides making the devs really happy<\/a>, means that the matchmaking is placing players against others at the same skill level, so it’s doing its job. It’s also quite hard to rank up in Overwatch 2, as you need to improve faster than the rest of the playerbase, who are also constantly learning and changing.<\/p>\n

So I was pretty excited to see what Stadium would be like, how its matchmaking would differ from plain old ranked, and whether it would be better or worse with a little less MMR. Turns out it’s both. Most matches I’ve played have either been really great or absolutely dreadful; the old adage “You either roll or get rolled” really applies here. But as I’ve played more games, the chaos has diminished a tiny bit as the system becomes more attuned with my skill rating.<\/p>\n

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