Blizzard’s launch of Overwatch 2 on Tuesday didn’t go as deliberate. Many gamers who tried to play the revamped Overwatch skilled lengthy queue occasions, had been subjected to server errors, had been disconnected from video games, and had progress and objects not carry over from the unique sport — that’s, if they may hook up with Blizzard’s sport servers in any respect. On Wednesday night, Blizzard apologized for the state of Overwatch 2’s launch and introduced a significant coverage change: It’s going to not require a telephone quantity to be hooked up to a Battle.internet account for “a majority of current Overwatch gamers.”
“We’ve made the choice to take away telephone quantity necessities for a majority of current Overwatch gamers,” the Overwatch staff mentioned in a publish on Blizzard’s boards. “Any Overwatch participant with a related Battle.internet account, which incorporates all gamers who’ve performed since June 9, 2021, is not going to have to supply a telephone quantity to play.”
Blizzard mentioned it plans to vary the telephone quantity requirement for Overwatch 2 for current gamers by Friday.
Regardless of lifting the telephone quantity requirement for a lot of its participant base, an initiative it referred to as SMS Defend, the developer “stay[s] dedicated to combating disruptive conduct in Overwatch 2” and famous that “accounts that weren’t related to Battle.internet in addition to new accounts will nonetheless have to satisfy SMS Defend necessities, which helps to make sure we’re defending our group in opposition to dishonest. If a participant is caught participating in disruptive conduct, their account could also be banned whether or not they have a brand new account or not.”
Blizzard’s resolution to require a telephone quantity for Overwatch 2 — and additional restrictions about which varieties of telephone numbers would meet its necessities — was a controversial one. Some gamers who had pre-paid cellular phone plans discovered themselves locked out from enjoying Overwatch 2, which means some clients who bought the unique Overwatch, which was changed by its sequel wholesale, may not play their copy of the sport. That concern was exacerbated by the timing of Blizzard’s announcement of the coverage: one week earlier than Overwatch 2 launched, and properly after the developer began taking pre-orders for add-ons for the sport.
As for the standing of Overwatch 2’s on-line play, Blizzard mentioned it’s nonetheless working to enhance stability for the sport’s on-line service.
“Right this moment we’ve patched a server that’s essential to the login expertise, and this variation has elevated login reliability,” the Overwatch staff mentioned. “Past queues, we’re in progress with one other server replace that may cut back the occurrences of gamers being disconnected as soon as they’re already in sport.”
Blizzard mentioned it has “made modifications to simplify the queuing course of,” and expects gamers to see extra streamlined queue occasions, and is working to deal with gamers being dropped from queues.
In Wednesday night’s replace, Blizzard additionally addressed issues with account merging and lacking participant objects, and incorrectly locked heroes, all of which it mentioned is being investigated and labored on. Blizzard once more famous that Overwatch 2’s launch points “had been exacerbated by DDoS assaults,” which have apparently abated since Tuesday.
Blizzard mentioned updates can be posted on the official Overwatch Twitter account (and presumably its boards) as they arrive in.
