Blizzard Apologizes for Overwatch 2 Launch

Blizzard has had its work cut out for them with the launch of its highly anticipated Overwatch 2. The game has hardly been out and already there are numerous issues that Blizzard will have to address. With Overwatch 2 launching on all platforms and transitioning to a free-to-play model having a messy launch is not the best first impression for many new players. Blizzard has since issued an apology and aims to clean up many of the problems.

The biggest issue that players immediately noticed when launching Overwatch 2 was not being able to enter any matches. The waiting queues had some players in line behind thousands. This particular problem Blizzard claims was caused by having two different queues, one for Battle.net and one for the game. A patch has since been released to simplify it to one queue.

A series of DDOS attacks also added to this particular problem. Blizzard explained that the DDOS "...causes a backup in the login system, which eventually leads to some people being dropped out of queues or being unable to log in at all,". Blizzard promises to create more servers and release a stability patch to combat the issue.

Another problem that players were having involved merging old Overwatch accounts with Overwatch 2. This led some veteran players to be forced into Overwatch 2's first-time user experience mode which makes new players unlock heroes through match progression. Some players have reported that items they should have are missing as well.

To top it off there is a controversy regarding players having to use a cell phone number to verify accounts. This SMS Protect also meant that many players with prepaid phones were not allowed to access the game.

In a response to the laundry list of launch issues, Blizzard said: "We want to apologize to our players, We expected the launch of Overwatch 2 to go smoothly. We hold ourselves to a higher standard and we are working hard to resolve the issues you are experiencing."