Overwatch 2 locks out players with pre-paid phone plans
Players on pre-paid mobile phone plans are being restricted from playing Overwatch 2.
All Overwatch 2 players are required to have a phone number attached to their Battle.net account in order to access the game, but certain types of numbers, including pre-paid and VOIP, can’t be used.
Prior to Overwatch 2’s launch on Tuesday, Blizzard said the game’s new two-factor authentication system, SMS Protect, “is an industry-proven solution in combating both cheating and disruptive behaviour”.
While it’s also designed to discourage ‘smurfing’, which sees experienced players using a secondary account to face lower-skilled ones, the system is currently facing a backlash for potentially locking out millions of legitimate players.
Those being restricted from playing include many on lower incomes as well as customers who previously purchased the now defunct Overwatch, which was this week replaced by its free-to-play successor.
It’s claimed that people with pre-paid phones from providers including Cricket Wireless, Mint Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, Tello, Republic Wireless and Straight Talk have been unable to access the game.
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“I am ashamed of having a prepaid phone,” wrote one Reddit user. “Never thought I would be disqualified from playing overwatch based on my ability afford a phone contract, but here we are… Blizzard is the first company to make me feel too poor to play a game.”
SMS Protect doesn’t enable the same phone number to be used on multiple accounts simultaneously.
“I have four teenagers who enjoyed playing Overwatch together on their Switches,” parent Ryan Markel tweeted. “They played this way for well over a year and paid for the game
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