Overwatch 2 Reverses Phone Requirement for Most Players, Addresses Controversial Launch

The team behind Overwatch 2 has addressed the game's incredibly controversial launch which has been wrought with server issues and unfortunate changes that have rubbed folks the wrong way. Overwatch 2 is a rather interesting sequel as it's kind of just a slightly refined version of the original. It's not a big leap forward and is largely made up of a lot of the same parts. However, it's free-to-play and the original game has been shut down, so there weren't many massive reasons to complain. That was until Overwatch 2 was hit with DDoS attacks as soon as it launched and server problems that have prevented players from playing the game or kicked them out in the middle of a match. If you could play, you also had to enter your phone number to continue as it's used to combat cheaters, ensuring they can't create a new account if they get banned. However, this created other issues as Overwatch 2 doesn't let players with prepaid phones play. Some fans noted the move made them feel "too poor" to play the highly anticipated game.

Blizzard Entertainment has come out and addressed all of these matters with a very detailed blog post. For starters, Blizzard confirmed that it is making it so anyone who played Overwatch with a connected Battle.net account since June 9th, 2021 will not need a phone number. This change is expected to go into effect by October 7th. Those who do not have a connected Battle.net account or make a new account will need a phone number still. Blizzard has also increased stability with the game's queues and servers, though players should still expect to be put into queues and may see some server disconnections. The team is working to improve the matters, but it will take some time.

Finally, anyone that noticed all of their items and skins disappeared when transferring to Overwatch 2 shouldn't be too alarmed. Blizzard stated no one has actually lost anything, the process is just slowed down or not displaying correctly. Various fixes for these issues are expected to be implemented by next week. If you want the super detailed, semi-nerdy explanations for everything, we highly recommend reading the blog post.

Overwatch 2 is out now on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC. How has your experience with the game been? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.

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