Blizzard says Overwatch 2’s servers are experiencing a “mass DDoS attack”, preventing players from accessing the newly launched game.
Players reported unexpected server errors and difficulty joining Overwatch 2 games throughout the evening after today’s free launch, with some claiming to encounter queues of 40,000 other players.
A previous tweet by Blizzard boss Mike Ybarra acknowledged today’s server issues, but gave no indication that they could be the result of anything other than startup issues on the day of launch, only thanking players for their patience and pledging to “get [them] in pleasure”.
However, Ybarra now has posted a follow-up tweet suggesting that today’s Overwatch 2 launch is affected by the malicious actions of a third party. “Unfortunately, we are experiencing a massive DDoS attack on our servers,” he wrote. “Teams are working hard to mitigate/manage. It’s causing a lot of drop/connection issues.”
Blizzard’s dedicated Overwatch 2 social networks remain a little less informative. Tonight’s ongoing server issues were briefly covered in a Known Issues article shortly after launch, but no further updates have been shared yet.
I will update the story as it develops.