Blizzard will no longer claim legacy Overwatch players to confirm their phone numbers in order to play Overwatch 2 after criticism from fans with prepaid phones.
On top of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and miles-long queues that plagued Overwatch 2 since Tuesday’s launch, some fans have been furious about their inability to connect phone numbers associated with their prepaid mobile providers, such as Cricket Wireless and Mint Mobile, to Battle.net. Those numbers didn’t qualify for SMS Protect, which Blizzard introduced to the game to combat cheating, trolling, and other bad behavior. The company said in its latest status update that it will remove the requirement to link phone numbers, but remains “committed to combating disruptive behavior.”
“We designed it Overwatch 2 be a live service, allowing us to respond to various player feedback. We have made the decision to remove the phone number requirement for most existing ones Overwatch players,” Blizzard said. “Any Overwatch a player with a linked Battle.net account, which includes all players who have played since June 9, 2021, will not be required to provide a phone number to play. We are working on rolling out this change and expect it to go live on Friday, October 7th. We will update the players when it is in effect.”
Phone required for Overwatch 2 it caused controversy among some players who claimed it was sowing classicism in the free-to-play game. In other words, players with prepaid phones were excluded from playing the game with those on regular phone rates. Reddit user RLmclovin, who has Cricket Wireless, said they were embarrassed they couldn’t play Overwatch 2 with friends and family they like the original game simply because they can’t afford a phone contract. Another Cricket Wireless user told Kotaku that he doesn’t meet Overwatch 2user’s phone request “I feel like I’m being punished for being poor.”
While Blizzard launched SMS Protect with the best of intentions, the classes are divided Overwatch of players with prepaid phone packages and those without was an unintended consequence. Most live service games, such as Fortnitethey never require players to link their phone numbers to their accounts in order to play.
Editor’s recommendations
Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn