'Overwatch' Competitive Play Is Out For PC, Consoles Coming Soon

Edit: It's out! Read the full patch notes here.

Competitive Play is coming to Overwatch today according to Lylira on the Blizz.net forums . There was some speculation the patch was going up today, with a French version of the notes going up earlier saying the release date was June 28. The shooter’s ranked mode will be coming to PC first, with consoles coming in the near future.

The summer season of Overwatch’s ranked mode will only last a month and a half instead of the usual two and a half. Since they are trying to follow actual seasons and Competitive Play was not ready by June 1, Blizzard was forced to cut short its first season to make everything fit.

We will update this post when the actual patch goes live. In the meantime,here are the French notes, translated by Master Overwatch :

NEW FEATURE: COMPETITIVE MODE

Overwatch is raising the bar for competitive players, giving them the perfect arena to sharpen their skills and hone their strategies. Introducing Competitive Play.
Competitive Play is designed for players who truly want to put their skills to the test, and offers a more serious experience than our Quick Play or Weekly Brawl! modes. To make sure everyone playing the mode has a solid understanding of the game’s mechanics, maps, and heroes, Competitive Play will be locked until you hit level 25.
Once you reach level 25, the mode will become available under the “Play” button in the main menu. Simply select "Competitive Play" from the submenu, and you’re ready to enter a match. You can join on your own or in a group, and Overwatch ’s matchmaking system will automatically find the best game possible for your (or your group's) skill level.
Competitive Play is live right now! To learn more about this new feature, click here.

GENERAL UPDATES Gamepad Controls Players can now swap the left and right sticks on a control pad "Legacy" controls option has been added: Left stick up/down moves forward/backward Left stick left/right turns left/right Right stick up/down aims up/down (these can be inverted) Right stick left/right strafes left/right Sticks can also be switched Improved dead-zone controls, giving players increased accuracy during off-center and diagonal stick movement
Added an option to adjust Aim Assist strength (defaults to full strength)
Players can now configure the user interface display area (Go to Options > Video > Display Margin)
Miscellaneous
"Weapons" section added to the Hero Gallery
Added McCree as an AI hero in Practice vs. AI, Play vs. AI, and Custom Game modes
Disabled "Avoid This Player" functionality and removed option from the game UI

Developer Comments: The "Prefer"/"Avoid" player system was designed with the best intentions; however, it's not currently performing in a way that we feel is healthy for the game. While the "Prefer This Player" option is more or less working as intended (and is thus still enabled), the "Avoid This Player" option has impacted the matchmaker in negative way and led to some very poor player experiences across the board. Although we like the idea of being able to say "hey, I'd prefer not to play with this person," the implementation of the mechanic is not where it needs to be. We're still looking at ways to iterate and improve upon features that empower players to reduce toxicity and harassment in their games; we just want to be sure these features don't accidentally punish positive community members as a side-effect.