What is DDoSing in Overwatch 2? Exploring possible server attack after launch day

Overwatch 2 finally launched on October 4. The game is free-to-play, a move made by Blizzard Entertainment to introduce it to a much wider audience. The highly anticipated sequel to the hit multiplayer first-person shooter had fans excited from the moment it was announced. Unfortunately, that excitement sort of ended after the launch when the game was the subject of massive DDoS attacks from unknown sources.

Multiplayer games like this require stable connections to the server, and the server was being exploited by the attackers. That's bad news for any game, let alone one that's just launched.

The article will go over what exactly DDoSing is and how it's affecting Overwatch 2.

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What is DDoSing in Overwatch 2? How the servers have come under attack

DDoSing refers to a distributed denial-of-service. It is defined as:

"A malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic."

In the case of Overwatch 2, the perpetrators are targeting the new servers of the new game and trying to overflow them with traffic. Most servers are not built to withstand traffic like that, and DDoS attacks exploit this vulnerability.

A brand new game will almost always see traffic, potentially at an all-time high. A game is arguably never more popular than when it first releases, so the potential for traffic for Overwatch 2 was really high yesterday.

This unfortunately also makes it a little easier to overwhelm the servers. When so many people are already playing the game, it doesn't take much to push past the server limit.

The game reportedly faced multiple DDoS attacks, so someone clearly wants to ruin the day for Overwatch 2 players.

These kinds of issues can be challenging to get under control and can be even more difficult to trace. The team at Blizzard is working on fixing things and presumably working towards eliminating this possibility in the future as best they can.

However, there's no telling how successful they've been and how long it will take to get the game back to normal. For such a big game so early into its shelf life, the attacks are definitely a significant setback.

Overwatch 2 was released yesterday (Image via PlayOverwatch/YouTube)

For many players, this could be a permanent turn-off. Not many games are worth the incredible struggle that they've likely gone through for Overwatch 2. Although the game's servers will definitely return, the playerbase may not.

Readers should keep an eye on the game's official channels for more information as to when the servers will be fixed. For now, it may be best to pretend Overwatch 2 hasn't actually been released and simply wait for the next update rather than endlessly try to get into the game.