Overwatch’s Competitive Play season two has started early (update)

The second season of Overwatch’s Competitive Play mode has started a full five days early on Windows PC and Xbox One. Director Jeff Kaplan confirmed the early kickoff on the Battle.net forums in a brief post following player speculation that the mode’s sophomore round had begun in advance of its official launch.

"Yes," Kaplan wrote in a thread about Competitive Play’s possible early start, days ahead of the planned Sept. 6 debut. "Season 2 is now live on PC."

As for Xbox One players, patch notes published tonight confirmed that Competitive Play’s second season is live on that console as well. The patch brings about several previously announced big changes. These include a new skill rating system, the removal of Sudden Death and the return of tier-based rankings. The Eichenwalde map is also available on console as of now.

Overwatch’s big update hasn’t made it to PlayStation 4 yet, however. That’s in part due to the PlayStation Network being offline. Server issues are preventing players from accessing online features, meaning they can’t get into the online multiplayer shooter or download any possible new patches.

Update: The patch is now live on PlayStation 4, the Overwatch Twitter confirmed.