Overwatch 2 ‘Launch Experience Has Been Frustrating’

Overwatch 2 has not been having a good time. After undergoing two attacks by external parties that made it nearly impossible to play, the hero shooter came under fire for its bad cell phone policy. Then, many had issues trying to play Overwatch 2 with friends. Blizzard worked to ease these pains, axing the phone requirement outright and allowing more players to experience the sequel as the week went on, but not before some extended downtime on Thursday night. By Friday, fans had discovered a chat bug that randomly spent their real-world money on the shop. Now it’s the evening, and to kick the weekend off, Blizzard has another update.

In a new status update post, Blizzard expressed gratitude that fans have been “patient” through this entire saga, and while there are some welcome improvements now, the game’s larger status update is still kind of a mixed bag.

Effective immediately, console players who have a linked Battle.net account since June 9, 2021, along with any PC players with tied accounts, won’t need a cell phone, Blizzard announced in the status update. In an email, a Blizzard spokesperson clarified that totally new players to Overwatch 2, however, would need a phone number still, so the requirement isn’t totally gone.

While Blizzard says that it is making progress on things like account merging issues, along with players unable to access their purchased Watchpoint Pack on consoles, the developer states that some may still experience hiccups. There’s still a queue for the former problem, and in the case of the latter issue, PlayStation owners in particular may not see the product in their inventories. A fix is reportedly set to roll out later tonight. Some may still experience those pesky login issues, too, but Blizzard made it sound like this is now a much smaller stumbling block for the game.

Perhaps the most ironic bullet point in the status update is what has replaced the login issue. Here’s Blizzard, explaining how by improving one thing, players might now see a worse experience elsewhere:

Now that we’ve increased capacity and have a higher player concurrency, matchmaking systems are being affected, which means you may be seeing a wait before being placed in a match. We are changing configurations within this system today and hope to somewhat shorten that wait throughout the day. We will continue looking into the matchmaking queues through the weekend to identify any additional improvements we can make.

At least you can be inside the game while waiting, though.

Blizzard knows that fans might be frustrated after the week that’s just transpired In the send-off to this update, after thanking players and acknowledging that the game has undergone a tough launch, Blizzard wrote:

We deeply appreciate your patience and thank you for your support, and we are laser focused on improving the Overwatch 2 experience for all players.

For now, it seems as if Overwatch players will have to hang tight until next week to see more meaningful changes beyond the ones slated to hit the game later tonight.