Players should be able to get around SMS Protect if they have a Battle.net account attached.
The launch of Overwatch 2 by Blizzard on Tuesday did not go as expected. Many players who attempted to play the revamped 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. The majority of current Overwatch players will no longer be required to have a phone number associated with a Battle.net account, according to a major policy change that Blizzard revealed on Wednesday evening along with an apology for the poor quality of Overwatch 2’s launch.
The majority of current Overwatch players will no longer be required to provide a phone number, the Overwatch team announced in a forum post on the Blizzard website. “No phone number will be required to play for any Overwatch player with a connected Battle.net account, including all players that have played after June 9, 2021.”
By Friday, Blizzard stated it would change the Overwatch 2 phone number requirement for current gamers.
The company “remain[s] committed to tackling disruptive conduct in Overwatch 2” despite eliminating the SMS Protect effort that required phone numbers for a large portion of its user population. and stated that “new accounts as well as accounts that were not connected to Battle.net will still have to meet SMS Protect criteria, which helps to ensure we are protecting our community against cheating. Whether a gamer has a fresh account or not, their account may be banned if they are seen acting disruptively.
The need that Overwatch 2 players have a phone number, as well as other limitations on the kinds of phone numbers that would satisfy this requirement, were controversial decisions made by Blizzard. Some players with pre-paid cell phone contracts discovered that they were unable to access Overwatch 2, which meant that some consumers who had bought the original Overwatch—which was replaced by its sequel—in bulk—could no longer access it. The timing of Blizzard’s announcement of the policy—one week before the release of Overwatch 2 and far after the publisher began accepting pre-orders for the game’s add-ons—exacerbated that problem.
Regarding the condition of Overwatch 2’s online functionality, Blizzard stated that it is still striving to increase the service’s stability.
The Overwatch team stated that “today we patched a server that is important to the login experience, and this modification has boosted login reliability.” Beyond queues, we’re working on a server update that will lessen the likelihood of gamers getting disconnected while already playing.
Users should expect shorter wait times for queues, according to Blizzard, which also said it is trying to fix the issue of players being removed from queues.
Blizzard says it is looking into and working on issues with account merging, lost player stuff, erroneously locked heroes, and other issues with Wednesday’s update. Overwatch 2’s launch problems, as previously stated by Blizzard, “were compounded by DDoS attacks,” however these seem to have subsided since Tuesday.
Updates will be posted as they happen on the official Overwatch Twitter account (and probably its forums), according to Blizzard.
