Following a barrage of complaints and criticism, Blizzard is dropping the requirement to attach phone numbers to Battle.net accounts from "the vast majority of existing Overwatch players (opens in new tab)."

Called SMS Protection, it initially required all Overwatch 2 players on all platforms to attach their phone number to their Battle.net account in order to play the game. This is a fairly basic 2FA system, but it is intended not only to help protect players' accounts, but also to give Blizzard more control over who can access Overwatch 2.

"SMS protection helps verify account ownership in the unlikely event of an account breach," Blizzard states (opens in new tab). Similarly, if a disruptive player is suspended or banned, SMS Protect makes it more difficult for them to get back into the game."

The problem is that SMS protection excludes certain players for reasons unrelated to their in-game behavior; since each Battle.net account requires a separate number, households with multiple Overwatch fans who share phone lines could be excluded. Potentially. To make matters worse, "certain types of numbers, including prepaid and VOIP, cannot be used for SMS Protect. This could shut out many people, especially younger players who cannot or do not want to sign multi-year phone contracts, even if they have unique phone numbers. Prior to today's decision, this condition applied to those who purchased "Overwatch" but cannot play it now that it has been replaced by "Overwatch 2."

"I played Overwatch almost from day one and loved it. It's what made me enjoy competitive gaming in the first place," redditor WavePheonix (opens in new tab) wrote. 'A few days before the launch, I wanted to link my phone number to my account. I was shocked to find out that I could not play the game because I am on a prepaid plan. I can't change my phone plan for one game and even though I paid for it, played all the betas and have been a fan for years, I don't think I can play it anymore."

"What happens in a household with only one phone number, Chromeglow (open in new tab) asked." Blizzard doesn't expect you to get another phone number just to play the game."

"I only have one phone number.

"I use Cricket wireless. It's what my family can afford. I have nothing else to say," writes RLmclovin (opens in new tab)." I am not going to tell my family to switch because of video games. I can't play overwatch right now. It's really sad. I've played with friends and family for years and now I can't play with anyone because of my phone bill plan."

TheNocron (opens in new tab) posted a picture of the rejected effort to add a phone number:

"This sucks," they wrote." I can't even play the games I paid for because of the phone plan." (They later explained that they paid for "Overwatch 1" but now have no choice but to move on to "Overwatch 2" (open in new tab).)

Further confusing the situation is that some prepaid plans appear to be working, despite Blizzard's policy. Our "Overwatch 2" reviewer (opens in new tab) and all-around guy Tyler Colp told us that he uses Mint Mobile prepaid and that the SMS protection system works fine with it and knows others who have had success with it as well. Redditor Sophie_bear (opens in new tab) said she was also able to use SMS Protect with another prepaid system called Tello Mobile.

Prepaid phones are often portrayed in TV dramas as tools of criminals and spies, but the reality is less sensational. For example, a February 2022 report from Research and Markets (opens in new tab) states that prepaid cellular service in the U.S. "has become increasingly competitive in recent years as services have evolved to become comparable to the features and plans of postpaid services," and that "prepaid cellular . will continue to increase prepaid usage as part of the dominant trend toward services becoming increasingly comparable to postpaid wireless," the report predicts.

Even today, the numbers are huge: according to Fierce Wireless' November 2020 report (opens in new tab), there are roughly 74 million prepaid users in the US as of Q3 2020. This is a very large number of cell phones, and that number is not likely to decrease in the future.

Some Overwatch 2 players have said they support this restriction. This is because it will reduce smurfing (high ranking players creating new accounts to gank lower skilled players), and hopefully it will also reduce general toxicity as the system for recovering from an account ban will be stronger than before. A new cell phone contract is a hefty penalty for getting back into the game, but a side effect is that it shuts out certain new players and longtime Overwatch fans.

At least most of the latter group will get relief: in an update scheduled to take place on October 7, "Overwatch" players connected to their Battle.net accounts (including all players who played the original "Overwatch" after June 9, 2021) players) will have the phone number requirement removed.

"Accounts that are not connected to Battle.net or new accounts will still need to meet the SMS protection requirements, which will help ensure that the community is protected from cheating," Blizzard said, "If a player is found to be engaging in disruptive behavior, new account or not, that account may be banned"

.

While the new policy is a step in the right direction, it still leaves a very large number of potential players mosquitoed out. One of the main attractions of Overwatch 2, a free-to-play game, is the ability to jump into the action without having to go out much. However, new players will need to connect their phone number to their account in order to play, and there is no word on how Blizzard intends to accommodate, or if it will accommodate, players with prepaid cell phones. Blizzard's "Defense Matrix (opens in new tab)" update last week states that prepaid and VOIP numbers cannot be used for SMS protection; we have contacted Blizzard for more information and will update if we hear back.

Blizzard also acknowledged ongoing issues with Overwatch 2 regarding queues (opens in new tab), server crashes, and game stability, and has taken steps to address these issues, including server-side updates and adding new nodes to reduce the load on the player database stated that they are taking steps to address these issues.

"We are currently throttling the queue to protect the player database as much as possible while we scale." This feels bad in the short term, but once it is done, it will greatly improve the player experience in many areas going forward."

Blizzard stated.

Issues with account integration are also being addressed (and in some cases have already been addressed), and Blizzard stated that no player data has been lost. Another issue with heroes and items being accidentally locked is also being addressed. Additionally, Blizzard stated that the DDoS attack (opens in new tab) that plagued the launch of Overwatch 2 appears to have stopped.

This article has been updated to include Blizzard's announcement regarding existing Overwatch players.