Overwatch 2 launch marred by multiple DDoS attacks
Enlarge / Artist's conception of Blizzard fighting off DDoS attackers.
When a highly anticipated online game launches, unforeseen server capacity issues and long entry queues are nothing out of the ordinary. In the case of this week's Overwatch 2 early access launch, though, the usual crowding problems are apparently being exacerbated by coordinated distributed denial of service attacks.
On Tuesday evening, Blizzard President Mike Ybarra issued a generic tweet warning that "Teams are working hard on server issues with Overwatch 2." Less than an hour later, though, he followed up with some more worrying specifics. "Unfortunately we are experiencing a mass DDoS attack on our servers," he said. "Teams are working hard to mitigate/manage. This is causing a lot of drop/connection issues."
Overnight, Overwatch 2 Game Director Aaron Keller posted an update saying that "we're steadily making progress on server issues and stability, as well as working through a second DDoS attack. We're all hands on deck and will continue to work throughout the night. Thank you for your patience-we'll share more info as it becomes available."