Overwatch 2 will drop mobile verification after 'paywall' backlash

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SMS Protect will disappear for the "majority" of players

Overwatch 2 Kiriko
(Image credit: Blizzard)

Overwatch 2 is dropping its SMS Protect feature "for a majority of existing Overwatch players."

In a post published early this morning, Blizzard published an update on the launch of Overwatch 2, outlining its approach to some of the bigger issues that players have faced over the past couple of days. At the top of that list is the SMS Protect feature - intended to act as part of the game's approach to combatting negative behaviour, Blizzard now says that it has "made the decision to remove phone number requirements."

That change is still a work in progress, and Blizzard says it expects to have it in place some time on Friday, October 7, and will update players once it's in effect.

That "majority" of players includes anyone who's played Overwatch since last June, when Battle.Net users were forced to connect their phone numbers to their accounts anyway. If you've not played since then, or you're a brand-new player, Blizzard says that you'll still need to meet the SMS Protect requirements. 

Launch hasn't gone entirely smoothly for Blizzard - fans have found themselves subject to significant server queues amid more than one DDoS attack - but the game does appear to have been relatively well-received by fans, who are already expressing their fondness for new characters like Sojourn and the reworked Orisa. Critically, however, things are a little less clear-cut; in our Overwatch 2 review, Alyssa said "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."

Ali Jones
Ali Jones
Managing Editor, News

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.