Blizzard battles with a second Overwatch 2 DDoS, but server issues are starting to ease

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Junker Queen swings a hammer towards the ground in Overwatch 2
(Image credit: Blizzard)

Blizzard has confirmed that Overwatch 2 has been hit with not one, but two DDoS attacks, which, alongside renewed interest from lapsed fans, has made for a rocky launch indeed.

“We’re steadily making progress on server issues and stability, as well as working through a second DDoS attack,” Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller says on Twitter. “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.”

Mere hours prior, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra confirmed that the team shooter had been hit with its first DDoS attack after acknowledging Overwatch 2’s server issues. At the time of writing, Overwatch 2 queue times have returned to normal, though that can may change as larger parts of the world wake up and try to log on. 

A DDoS – distributed denial of service – attack occurs when someone sends numerous outgoing connections to a single server, rendering it unable to handle connections from normal users. It's fairly easy for malicious individuals to make happen, and it's extremely difficult to defend against. Major games are regularly targeted by DDoS attacks, so it comes as little surprise a big launch like Overwatch 2 would attract these sorts of attempts.

DDoS attacks do not mean that hackers have actually intruded on Blizzard's servers, of course, so you don't need to worry about changing passwords or anything like that.

If you’re unsure if Blizzard’s latest is for you, our Overwatch 2 review makes for good reading. We reckon that, "while Overwatch 2 still offers fun and frenetic gameplay on beautifully vibrant maps, it's hard to ignore how much it deviates from the successes of the original."

Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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