How To Pre-Download ‘Overwatch 2’ And Set Up SMS Protect
Overwatch 2 is finally almost here.
surveillance 2 will finally be released as a free-to-play game on October 4th. To ensure you get into the action as soon as the game launches (well, as long as the servers hold up), you can preinstall the game. It is worth noting that only returning players and those who have purchased the surveillance 2 Watchpoint Pack is available for pre-download. Newcomers have to wait until the launch.
First, let’s look at how to connect a mobile phone number to your Battle.net account, which is required to play surveillance 2.
How to set up SMS protection for “Overwatch 2”.
One of the main talking points about surveillance 2 is the fact that all players must have a valid mobile phone number linked to their account. This is already controversial. Players with secondary accounts will no longer be able to use them unless they have access to other valid mobile numbers (pro tip: very kindly ask your friends or family members).
Additionally, some players are finding that Blizzard’s system doesn’t accept their phone number, which really isn’t great. Blizzard says that for one, prepaid and VOIP numbers aren’t allowed. Also note that you can only use a phone number with a country code that matches your Blizzard Account country.
It may be worth setting up SMS Protect before installing surveillance 2, as you must do this before you can play anyway. To do this, go to the “Account Details” section in your Battle.net settings and enter your full phone number in the “Phone” section.
After you have done this and clicked Next, you will receive an SMS message with a verification code. Enter this on Battle.net and click or tap Next to complete the process.
By the way, if you are interested in learning more about SMS Protect, I did an interview surveillance 2 Developers on this and other aspects of their plan to mitigate fraud and toxicity. You can read about it here:
How to preinstall Overwatch 2
Returning players and Overwatch 2 Watchpoint Pack owners
If you have played surveillance 1 on the PC or bought the surveillance 2 Watchpoint Pack on the platform allows you to pre-download Overwatch 2 at the moment.
You may not even have to do much. If you have automatic updates enabled in the PC Battle.net Launcher, surveillance 2 should now download itself. Otherwise on the launcher over watch page, look at the bottom left of the window. You will see a gear icon next to the play button. Click on it and select Check for updates. Consider that surveillance 2 is about a 50GB download on PC. If you see this message, you’re good to go on Tuesday:
If you see this message on Battle.net, you should be ready to start playing Overwatch 2.
As for the pre-installation surveillance 2 on PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch, you can download it around noon Eastern Time on October 4th. I believe, but this is not confirmed, that you will do this by updating the original game or the beta if you still have it installed. Otherwise check the surveillance 2 Store page on your console. surveillance 2 is about a 30GB install on consoles.
new players
First of all welcome! You must create a Battle.net account to play surveillance 2 on all platforms. Make sure you also set up SMS Protect as described above.
If you are a PC gamer, be sure to download the Battle.net Launcher. Once you have that set up, navigate to surveillance 2 Page to download the game.
Unfortunately, new players cannot download surveillance 2 on PC or consoles until the game launches around 3pm ET on October 4th. Hopefully the servers aren’t under too much attack and you can download the game quickly so you can join the party. It should be a fun time.
Whether you are a new player or have already played over watch since the 2015 beta if you have any questions about it surveillance 2, Feel free to ask me on Twitter. I’m happy to help as best I can!