Overwatch 2 demands players use a contract phone plan.
Overwatch 2 demands players use a contract phone plan.
To access OverWatch 2, each player needs their Battle.net account tied to a phone number for two-step verification. But this method doesn’t support prepaid or VoIP numbers. The article explains why this is the case and highlights the restrictions in detail.
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It seems the bots and cheaters need to be quite problematic to justify such strict rules. This could actually be beneficial if the goal is to create a genuine "eSport" where people can't easily exploit the system. However, this issue feels very focused on American culture. Battle.net could handle selling physical 2FA tokens if they truly cared about fairness for all players. Of course, it would likely cost around the price of a prepaid phone card.
I believe this was intended to prevent smurfing as well. If the game were free, people might create smurf accounts all the time, which could disrupt competitive play for many. As someone who played a lot of Overwatch, I rarely see cheaters, and smurf accounts were much more common back then. Of course, I also used a separate account for tank and healer before leveling up, since my main role was DPS and I couldn’t play healer or tank at diamond without progressing too far.
I initially imagined it was another failed effort by them to require users to share their real identities on their forums more than ten years ago.
I've noticed smurf accounts have become a significant issue since about 2019. It wasn't just limited to American players—joining games with teammates who had new accounts and obvious language barriers was surprising. This isn’t new; many players worldwide have taken advantage of ranking systems or used cheats to gain an edge over less experienced opponents as online gaming grew in popularity.
The core concern revolves around access and fairness. Some argue that restricting prepaid and VOIP numbers limits participation for certain groups based on location or income. Others see it as a reflection of skill-based matchmaking frustrations, where players feel excluded from top spots. My experience with OW1 and OW2 shows how these debates can drive significant changes in team composition.
I don’t face any problems except for the point that real players without access to a “valid” number—set by Blizzard—might struggle to enjoy something they bought.