Overwatch 2 Drops Phone Number Requirement After Many Complaints

Blizzard has apologized for Overwatch 2’s rocky launch. Furthermore, the company has taken out the recent policy that requires all players to have a phone number attached to their Battle.net account to access the game.

Many players have stated that this phone number requirement, which barred certain pre-paid services, heightens the barrier of entry as most people prefer to use pre-paid phone services, some even out of necessity. Here is Blizzard’s public apology on the matter, as well as its steps moving forward:

“While millions of people have been enjoying the game, the launch has not met your, or our, expectations. First, we want to apologize to our players. We expected the launch of Overwatch 2 to go smoothly. We hold ourselves to a higher standard and we are working hard to resolve the issues you are experiencing.

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.

We remain committed to combating disruptive behavior in Overwatch 2—accounts that were not connected to Battle.net as well as new accounts will still have to meet SMS Protect requirements.”

At this point in time, it still takes a while for players old and new to enter a game of Overwatch 2 due to the queue system.