Overwatch 2has detailed its “Defense Matrix” initiative to deal with cheaters and generally disruptive players, though part of this is going to require everyone that plays the game to add a phone number to their account and consent to their voice chat possibly being recorded.Overwatch 2will launch in early access on October 4 as a free-to-play game, and this will bring with it significant changes to Blizzard’s hero-shooter.
The most notable change isOverwatch 2dropping to five players per team, which in turn has caused a domino effect of balance tweaks and other changes. Tanks have gone through the biggest changes inOverwatch 2, with changes made to make them more powerful since the new set-up only has one Tank per team. But while there are major changes coming withOverwatch 2’s launch from a gameplay standpoint, there are also changes coming in the way Blizzard tackles its security.
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With thelaunch ofOverwatch 2, Blizzard is implementing SMS Protect to help verify the ownership of any given Battle.net account. This means that players must attach a phone number to their Battle.net account to playOverwatch 2across PC and consoles. Phone numbers can only be used once, and players can not have multiple accounts with the same phone number. Pre-paid phones and VOIP can’t be used. Those that own the box version of the originalOverwatchwill be required to add a phone number to keep playing onceOverwatch 2launches as well. Blizzard’s intention with this is to make it difficult for banned players to return to the game, as well as provide a failsafe in the “unforeseen event of an account compromise.”
The phone number requirement will be inOverwatch 2at launch, and some point after launch,Blizzardwill also be introducing audio transcriptions. This will allow Blizzard to “collect a temporary voice chat recording” of a reported player and transcribe what they’re saying through text to speech programs. This text is then analyzed by Blizzard’s chat review tools to search for “disruptive behavior.” Blizzard has said that the audio recording will be deleted after the transcription, while the text file will be deleted within 30 days. Blizzard stresses that voice chat data will not be stored “long term” and so players will need to report disruptive voice chat behavior right away.
By requiring a phone number to play the game and creating temporary recordings of voice chat, the idea is that Blizzard will be able to more easily combat cheaters and “disruptive” players. However, there may be some concern that these systems will be abused somehow or that some players will be falsely banned, as has happened with other games. It will be interesting to see how theOverwatchcommunity reacts to these changes, as previous reports ofvideo games recording voice chathave not been received well.
Overwatch 2launches in early access on October 4 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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