Blizzard has apologised for the rocky launch of Overwatch 2 after struggling cyber-attacks and dealing with backlash over telephone verification necessities.
In a put up to the US Blizzard discussion board, a neighborhood supervisor wrote: “Yesterday was an thrilling day for the Overwatch staff—a day that we all know you could have been wanting ahead to for a very long time. While thousands and thousands of individuals have been having fun with the sport, the launch has not met your, or our, expectations.
“First, we need to apologize to our gamers. We anticipated the launch of Overwatch 2 to go easily. We maintain ourselves to a better normal and we’re working onerous to resolve the problems you might be experiencing.
“We want to provide transparency on the issues, fixes we have made so far, and give you all insight as to how we’re moving forward.”
The assertion additionally addressed “login queues, server crashes, and stability problems” which they stated have been “intertwined”.
It’s attainable the problems are linked to a targetted assault, as Blizzard president Mike Ybarra confirmed the sport’s server suffered a DDoS assault (distributed denial of service) at launch.
Prior to Tuesday’s launch, Blizzard stated new two-factor authentication system SMS Protect – which excluded sure varieties of telephone numbers together with pre-paid mobiles – was “an industry-proven solution in combating both cheating and disruptive behaviour” (through VGC).
Users complained, nevertheless, that the requirement may probably lock out lower-income gamers. It additionally meant that the identical telephone quantity couldn’t be used on a number of accounts.
“We do not have the money for all of my children to have their own unique phone numbers that can receive SMS messages,” one Twitter consumer wrote.
We wouldn’t have the cash for all of my kids to have their very own distinctive telephone numbers that may obtain SMS messages.
If you’d enable me to offer my very own quantity for all of them, it’d work. If you had a household account system of some form, it’d work.
— Ryan Markel (@ryanmarkel) October 4, 2022
Blizzard confirmed in the neighborhood put up that “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”.
It added that they anticipate the change to go dwell tomorrow (October 7).
The assertion added: “As a team, we will keep listening to ongoing feedback and will make further adjustments in this area if it is required.”
In different gaming information, a sequel to Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare is reportedly within the works at Sledgehammer Games.
