Overwatch 2 phone number requirement axed by Blizzard amid rocky launch

Blizzard’s launch of Overwatch 2On Tuesday, things did not turn out as expected. Numerous players tried to take part in the overhauled. Overwatch experienced long queue times, were subjected to server errors, were disconnected from games, and had progress and items not carry over from the original game — that is, if they could connect to Blizzard’s game servers at all. Blizzard issued an apology Wednesday night for the situation. Overwatch 2’s launch and announced a major policy change: It will no longer require a phone number to be attached to a Battle.net account for “a majority of existing Overwatch players.”

“We have made the decision to remove phone number requirements for a majority of existing Overwatch players,” the Overwatch team said in a post on Blizzard’s forums. “Any Overwatch player with a connected Battle.net account, which includes all players who have played since June 9, 2021, will not have to provide a phone number to play.”

Blizzard announced that they plan to modify the requirements for phone numbers. Overwatch 2For existing players, Friday is the deadline

Despite lifting the phone number requirement for much of its player base, an initiative it called SMS Protect, the developer “remain[s]Intentionally committed to eliminating disruptive behaviour Overwatch 2” and noted that “accounts that were not connected to Battle.net as well as new accounts will still have to meet SMS Protect requirements, which helps to ensure we’re protecting our community against cheating. If a player is caught engaging in disruptive behavior, their account may be banned whether they have a new account or not.”

What is the current status of Overwatch 2’s online play, Blizzard said it’s still working to improve stability for the game’s online service.

“Today we’ve patched a server that is critical to the login experience, and this change has increased login reliability,” the Overwatch team said. “Beyond queues, we’re in progress with another server update that will reduce the occurrences of players being disconnected once they’re already in game.”

Blizzard said it has “made changes to simplify the queuing process,” and expects players to see more streamlined queue times, and is working to address players being dropped from queues.

In Wednesday evening’s update, Blizzard also addressed problems with account merging and missing player items, and incorrectly locked heroes, all of which it said is being investigated and worked on. Blizzard once again pointed out that Overwatch 2’s launch issues “were exacerbated by DDoS attacks,” which have apparently abated since Tuesday.

Blizzard announced that they will post updates on the official site Overwatch Twitter accountAs they are received, (and possibly its forums).

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