With Overwatch poised to be a popular game amongst competitive players, Blizzard is certainly paying very close attention to what works and what doesn’t, as well as what the community is telling them. As if to prove this is the case, Blizzard has announced that they will be removing the game’s somewhat controversial Sudden Death feature.For those unfamiliar, in Competitive Mode there is a Sudden Death feature that basically pops up when the game is tied in terms of score. However many players have expressed their dissatisfaction with the feature which is why in season 2 of Competitive Mode, Blizzard will be doing away with the feature.
In a post on the Overwatch forums, the game’s director Jeff Kaplan said, “With that in mind, we’re looking at a variety of different, longer-term solutions that involve removing the coin flip and Sudden Death completely. For example, right now we’re exploring ways to allow for matches that would otherwise result in Sudden Death to instead resolve in a draw where neither team wins or loses. In that situation, our goal would be to make sure the match still felt rewarding for both teams, and that players could walk away feeling like it was time well invested.”
That being said, since the feature can’t be removed immediately, Blizzard has made some short-term changes to Sudden Death which involves reducing the timer down from 2 minutes to 1 minute 45 seconds, and that the feature will only be removed in season 2. More details on these changes can be found on Blizzard’s Overwatch forums.