An uninvited guest surprised players and developers of the hit FPS Overwatch 2 during its launch day on October 4, 2022. Executives from Blizzard Entertainment confirmed that Overwatch 2 was bogged down by mass-distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
Mike Ybarra, President of Blizzard Entertainment, revealed on Twitter, the culprit behind the series of failed matchmakings that marked the game's release.
"Unfortunately we are experiencing a mass DDoS attack on our servers. Teams are working hard to mitigate/manage. This is causing a lot of drop/connection issues," Ybarra tweeted. But a few hours later, Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller gave an update on the incident. According to Keller, the game suffered another round of DDoS attacks.
DDoS is one of the most common types of cyber attacks. Also referred to as a "Distributed network attack," perpetrators use this tactic to disrupt the normal traffic of a server or a network. A DDoS overwhelms its target with excessive traffic, preventing legitimate users and visitors from accessing it.
In the meantime, Keller assured players they were doing their best to resolve these issues. "We're steadily making progress on server issues and stability, as well as working through a second DDoS attack," said Keller in a separate tweet. "We're all hands on deck and will continue to work throughout the night," he added.
The team has also started a thread on its dedicated community on Blizzard's website. This will allow players to report issues related to Overwatch 2's launch.
Overwatch is Blizzard Entertainment's fourth-largest franchise. The original game was released in 2016 with massive success.
Overwatch 2 is also touted as the biggest release in the gaming industry for this year. It is free-to-play on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.