It's a new era for Blizzard's Overwatch series - with the company rolling out Overwatch 2 across multiple platforms including the Nintendo Switch today. It's free-to-play, features cross-platform play and progression and can be downloaded now from the Switch eShop.
Unfortunately, the launch hasn't gone entirely to plan. In a post on social media, company president Mike Ybarra revealed the game's servers have apparently been on the receiving end of a "mass DDoS attack", which has been creating a lot of drop and connection issues.
Blizzard's customer support page has shared a list of known issues and bugs, and what problems have been resolved so far.
Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller has also shared a brief update (via social media), mentioning how there's been a second attack, and the team would be "all hands on deck" throughout the night.
"We’re steadily making progress on server issues and stability, as well as working through a second DDoS attack. We’re all hands on deck and will continue to work throughout the night. Thank you for your patience - we’ll share more info as it becomes available."
When these issues are sorted - Overwatch 2 will offer players new heroes (Junker Queen, Sojourn and Kiriko), six new maps, a new 5v5 versus format, new modes (including Push and a redesigned comp mode), cosmetics, and a new ping system. A PvE mode will be released next year.
Loot Box have also been replaced by an all-new item shop, and there's now also a free and premium battle pass (1000 Overwatch coins - $10 USD) - giving players immediate access to new heroes when they're added, and other unlockables such as skins. Season One is now live and Season 2 will add a new tank hero and map. New seasons will follow every nine weeks.
How has your own experience been with Overwatch 2 so far? Tell us below.
Comments 45
How dare they, i was gonna play with the one new character but they just HAD to ruin It with a DDoS attack
Was it really a denial of service attack or was everyone just trying to play the game all at the same time and the server broke? 😝
Thanks other people.
Lol serves them right.
Honestly didn't even realize they went live. Usually hear about their big releases.
Ironically, been playing Paladins this week.
Blizzard is at the point as a company where they just need to admit they had a good run but its time to cut thier losses and close thier doors.
Very disappointing. Was really excited to play today. Oh well, the weekend it is.
@invictus4000 so what you are saying is you wish people will lose their job and be unable to support their families oof not cool dude
@invictus4000 Do you have any how much money Blizzard makes? Get educated, the numbers are insane.
I’m sure when I get the chance, the gameplay will be great. But you know what I know won’t be, the BP, and this comment section.
@CodyMKW Please, as if. The job market for programmers, QA testers, etc is ridiculously in favor of job seekers at the moment. Heck, even janitors are in high demand. Even if Blizzard shut down (which, I'm not advocating either way about atm), I'd bet 99% of employees would have a new job within a month.
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I had a feeling something like this would (did) happen.
@link3710 Just because something is in high demand doesn’t mean it pays well or provides a meaningful work-life balance.
So remember when Blizzard said characters won't be locked behind a paywall?? Seems everyone does but Blizzard.
@link3710 it’s not as simple as you think. People can lose pensions for their retirement, will now have to compete for job positions that may or may not pay the same, they may have to relocate, etc. Some will be fine of course, but will definitely be a struggle for others.
@Tasuki they did say that didn’t they? Wow blizzard, but not surprised.
@Paraka I had a much better time playing Paladins vs Overwatch. I miss 3rd person view.
@invictus4000 Eh I dunno. Hearthstone is still supported, right?
Keep getting kicked out of the que. Hope I can get in at least a couple of rounds tonight.
I'll wait until things settle down but I agree with the commenter above Blizzard should be calling it a day regardless of how much they may be making. How much they make is irrelevant to the Customer how they treat the Customer however is very relevant and locking heroes behind Battle Passes is just a d*** move but I wouldn't have expected anything less from a Company that has been getting nothing but bad press lately. It's more or less a tradition now.
Oh no!
Anyway…
@SimonCucho He's right considering all the bad press lately they should just close up shop at this point. How much they make is irrelevant to me as a Customer. Do I need to get educated too?
Bad press or not, there are employees in that company that worked hard to get there, and work hard to keep the culture of the workplace positive. Really easy to s*** on Blizzard while you sit on the toilet and write a mean comment.
Are we sure it's a DDOS? Being fully unprepared for launch day just seems like par from the course from Blizzard.
Removed - inappropriate language
Definitely possible it's an excuse, but clearly there's an army of folk with daggers out for Blizzard. Hardly seems far fetched that they'd be with with a DDoS.
Well having now actually played a couple of rounds; Switch version is a massive downgrade. Both lower frame rate and grainier visuals.
Doesn't feel like a sequel at all. It's the same game but with a few extra maps and characters and, on switch at least, degraded performance. Huge disappointment.
Am I the only one that has had their account reset to as if am a new player. All my account unlocks are gone and I have nothing not happy 😡😡
@Outerdragon You probably made a new account. Go to the website and troubleshoot.
@Big_Fudge 2 factor authentication is bad, right?
I at least got to play the training mode lol
@ketrac nope it’s exactly the same one I used for OW1 on switch. Seems a lot of people are having this problem.
Reminder #37648 that people suck.
@Xiovanni It’s easy to be critical from the outside, but you nor I can relate to what keeps people working for Blizzard.
@Outerdragon Here you go https://www.gamesradar.com/overwatch-2-cross-progression-account-merge/
Incredible the people here now defending this Company. I guess these people have clearly forgotten about the cases of sexual misconduct the CEOs didn't inform anyone of. Oh but that's ok we'll brush that under the carpet and instead defend these same emoyees because they worked hard to get to where they're at.
@Riderkicker - I do too, but I understood the change as to why. Still a fun game though, play it in sporadic sessions. Something I can't say about Overwatch after the first year.
Got some games in last night with the bois, despite everything. Game is still fun as heck, as it was in the betas. Kiriko is a lot of fun, definitely difficult to use well but in a fun challenge sort of way.
Speaking of challenges, the Battle Pass fears have been drastically overblown. I'm already level 9 after a single short night of play - my brother was level 12. You could literally play a single couple-hour session of Overwatch per week and still unlock the new hero in half the duration of the battle pass. And people seem to be forgetting you can still get new heroes for free after the BP as well.
As for anyone wishing for this game to fail or saying the DDOS is deserved because it's Blizzard - tell me what anyone on Team 4 (The OW team) did to warrant your disgusting comments.
@BLD Division logic doesn't apply to vindictiveness. Boycotting is also a dumb practice that doesn't really address the actual reasons a company may be hated, but who cares as long as we can pretend to hurt our target in a manner most convenient for our wallets, huh?
Also, isn't Blizzard about to be going through a pretty massive change with that Microsoft buyout? The way people act makes it sound like bad companies stay bad forever, but I can remember a time in the 2010s when Capcom was the go-to company to hate and nowadays are doing pretty well in the fan's eyes.
@Snatcher I am wondering if maybe this is an attempt for Activision-Blizzard (more importantly Bobby Kotick) to squeeze as much money out of these francises before, the MS deal goes through.
@Xiovanni The President of WoW would have a no-compete clause, but the artist painting for Overwatch would not. No-compete clauses are typically regional and timely. Two year clauses are typically struck down by courts for being too restrictive, general rule of thumb is 6-months. Another complicating matter is that many of the people you’re criticizing are contracted labor and not employees of Blizzard who wouldn’t be under a no-compete because they don’t have access to confidential information. There is a clause in Blizzard contracts for employees that is intended to prevent the poaching of talent for 2-years after one’s departure.
"Game is live" is a bit of a misnomer. It's more like the game is on life support at this point.
My problem is that like many of you, I "paid" for Overwatch. Now I can't play a game I paid for because the free to play sequel has replaced the first game. I think they should have not released the sequel until they were ready. I've tried multiple times to play and I receive errors or I'm put on a huge waiting list.
I find it quite hilarious and deserved that they were attacked.
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