Overwatch 2’s SMS Shield 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. Meaning the requirement to attach a Battle.web account to a cellular quantity is again for a lot of gamers of the free-to-play hero shooter.
SMS Shield 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 sport’s launch the day earlier than. Blizzard launched the cellphone 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 Shield wouldn’t work with the information plans on pay as you go cellphones, many gamers discovered themselves successfully locked out of the brand new sport 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 sport or their development.
Blizzard then walked again the SMS Shield requirement for present Battle.web 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.web.
SMS Shield is one software in a broader method Blizzard builders name “Protection Matrix,” which is meant “to assist defend the integrity of gameplay and promote constructive habits in Overwatch 2.” The sport is offered now for Nintendo Change, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Sequence X.