Overwatch 2’s SMS Defend requirement – a measure supposed to curb poisonous and disruptive participant habits — now accommodates cellphones on a pay as you go plan, Blizzard Leisure introduced on Thursday. Which means the requirement to attach a Battle.internet account to a cellular quantity is again for a lot of gamers of the free-to-play hero shooter.
SMS Defend was disabled for a majority of Overwatch 2 gamers on Oct. 5 as Blizzard coped with a raft of connectivity issues arising from the extremely anticipated recreation’s launch the day earlier than. Blizzard launched the telephone quantity requirement as a way to restrict free account creation and sanction unhealthy actors with out banning them, solely to see them return later.
However as a result of SMS Defend wouldn’t work with the information plans on pay as you go cellphones, many gamers discovered themselves successfully locked out of the brand new recreation one week earlier than its launch. Making issues worse, Overwatch 2 replaces the unique 2015, whose servers closed on Oct. 3, that means longtime followers had no entry to both recreation or their development.
Blizzard then walked again the SMS Defend requirement for current Battle.internet accounts, whereas leaving it in place for brand spanking new accounts or ones that by no means have been linked to the sport by way of Battle.internet.
SMS Defend is one instrument in a broader strategy Blizzard builders name “Protection Matrix,” which is meant “to assist shield the integrity of gameplay and promote optimistic habits in Overwatch 2.” The sport is on the market now for Nintendo Swap, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Sequence X.
