Overwatch Players Will Face Rank Demotions In Season 6

Overwatch players will feel a bit more pressure during competitive play in Season 6 with the announcement that they'll soon face demotions if they can't keep the wins coming.

Season 6 is set to have plenty of changes to the game, most of which were detailed in a recent developer update where Overwatch's game director Jeff Kaplan spoke about the changes. In a follow-up post from Lylirra, the community manager for Overwatch, it was confirmed that competitive players will soon be able to have their ranks lowered.

"Players in Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond will now be moved into lower skill tiers if they cannot consistently maintain the minimum skill rating for that tier," Lylirra wrote in an update on the Blizzard forums. "After a loss, the game will check to see what a player's current tier and skill rating are—if their skill rating has not exceeded the minimum for their current tier for the past five games, they will be demoted."

The community manager also added that players will never be demoted after they've won a game, so even if you ride dangerously close to being demoted, you won't be demoted if you can keep the wins coming enough to start ranking yourself back up.

And if you're concerned about your Competitive Point gains at the end of Season 6, you'll still be receiving the maximum amount possible. Lyrilla explained that you'll get the Competitive Points for whatever your highest rank was for the season even if you end lower than you began.

As for the actual process of ranking up, the way that players earn their skill rating that determines their rank is also changing.

"We've adjusted the calculations that determine how much skill rating players will gain after a win and lose after a loss," the announcement about the skill rating tweaks reads. "These changes should help address some of the anomalies players have been reporting, especially with heroes that have lower win-rates. We'll continue tuning this system and are committed to making additional adjustments so that players are encouraged to play the hero they feel gives their team the best chance to win a competitive match."

Overwatch's Season 5 of competitive play ends on Aug. 28 with the sixth season starting on Aug. 31, so make sure you put in some games to rank up before the next season begins.