Overwatch 2 players are stuck in the queue and facing long queue times to join a game. This can be frustrating, especially if it’s not moving despite checking the queue multiple times. If you are wondering how to get past the queue in Overwatch 2, here’s what you need to know.
Overwatch 2 Stuck in Queue – Can you reduce waiting times?
There is no way to skip the queue in Overwatch 2. You need to wait, but in my experience, the wait is getting shorter and shorter, as the devs work on the server issues. If you are playing on PC, though, you can change the server region you are playing on, to see if you are able to join a game through that server. This may reduce the number of players ahead of you.
As of Overwatch 2 season 10, the changes in the matchmaking of wide groups have caused long queue times, which are anything from 30 minutes to even 13 hours.
I GIVE UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP pic.twitter.com/xtl1J2C0E0
— NEUU (@neuuish) April 18, 2024
The devs are aware of this issue and are working on a fix. Here’s an acknowledgement from Aaron Keller, Game Director of Overwatch.
Changes to grouping restrictions in S10 are causing a subset of players to get abnormally long queue times. We're aware of the situation and investigating a fix.
Also, our known issue list can be found here.https://t.co/rNvRqfFPPw
— Aaron Keller (@aaronkellerOW) April 18, 2024
How to Change Overwatch 2 Server Region
- Open up your Battle.net client and click on the globe icon next to Overwatch 2 at the bottom left of the screen.
- If you are playing on the Asia server, you can switch to Europe or Americas. But keep in mind that this may affect your latency.
- Once you have changed your server region, click on PLAY.
On launch day, I saw a queue of 300 players ahead of me, which eventually came down to 20 players when I logged in after some time. The queue times also depend on the peak player time in specific regions. For example, the Asia server will get busier as it’s daytime in its regions, whereas the NA servers will see lower populations during those hours.
Moreover, OW2 was the target of multiple DDoS attacks on its launch day which is the reason why you may have seen an exceptionally long queue. As explained by Cloudflare, DDoS attacks are an attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a server by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic.
Almost every online game faces initial launch issues and OW2 is no different. Due to server problems, players faced login errors, disconnection issues, and more. These will be smoothed out as the game overcomes its launch-day hurdles. Overwatch was a paid game, but OW2 is now free-to-play. And so, a big chunk of new audiences will play the game leading to long queues. But as the server issues are sorted out, you won’t have to wait for too long.
What are the Current OW2 Queue Times?
As of the launch day, players are seeing a queue of anything from 300 players to 20,000 players ahead of them. In my experience, when there are 300 players ahead of you, it will take about 5 minutes to join the game. When there are 20,000 players, it took me about 20 minutes to log into the game.
That’s all about the long queue times in Overwatch 2. While you are here, don’t forget to find out what are souvenirs in OW2. And for more related to this game, head over to our Overwatch 2 guides.
