Overwatch 2 hit with a "mass DDoS attack"

gamesradar.com:

Overwatch 2 is experiencing some major server issues at launch, and Blizzard says it's partly due to a DDoS attack.

"Unfortunately we are experiencing a mass DDoS attack on our servers," Blizzard president Mike Ybarra says on Twitter (opens in new tab). "Teams are working hard to mitigate/manage. This is causing a lot of drop/connection issues."

A DDoS, or distributed denial of service, attack occurs when a hacker sends many outgoing connections to a single server, rendering that server 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, and a big launch like Overwatch 2 often attracts 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.

This DDoS is, of course, coming in on top of a massive wave of players attempting to access the now free-to-play game. The Overwatch 2 servers have been struggling since release, and issues like missing skins have been troubling players who've actually been able to log in.

If you're looking for something to do while awaiting the end of your queue, our Overwatch 2 review makes for good reading. Our resident FPS hero Alyssa Mercante writes 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."

Take aim at more of the best FPS games at that link.