Overwatch 2 players are able to hide their names in-game, but a new change in the Season 13 update has made it extraordinarily difficult to do so, leaving many feeling conflicted.
In the age of multiplayer gaming, privacy is of paramount importance. You never want to share too much personal information online, with titles often doing the most to hide the likes of your IP address in order to keep you safe.
In some cases, optional features even go the extra mile. That’s where hiding your name comes in. Across games like Valorant, Call of Duty, and more, features exist to obscure your name from everyone else in the lobby.
While it’s traditionally labeled ‘Streamer Mode’ in order to prevent stream-sniping for the bigger social media celebs, others enjoy the option too, simply to keep to themselves. In Overwatch 2, that very feature has been available for quite some time, though the new Season 13 update just made it insanely difficult to use.
Beyond all the new skins, character reworks, and balance adjustments, the Season 13 update also brought some smaller changes under the hood you may have missed. Chief among them is a change to how the game’s Streamer Mode functionality works.
In the past, anyone could access the feature and hide their name-in game, regardless of whether they’re playing on a newer or older account. However, that’s no longer the case.
Now, in order to access it, you have to complete the ‘Unrelenting Hero’ challenge. This requires you to win 1,750 games in total. Yes, you read that right, 1,750 wins.
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A herculean feat that no doubt takes many years of grinding, Blizzard made the adjustment in order to avoid newer accounts abusing the privacy feature.
“It’s important this feature can’t be abused by various types of disruptive players that tend to play on very new accounts,” devs wrote in the patch notes.
Naturally, given the extraordinary requirement to engage with the name-hiding mechanic, players are torn on how to feel about the change. While some are understanding, others are questioning just why it had to be so extreme.
“I understand why they’re going for this but the 1,750 wins required is frankly ridiculous,” one player chimed in on Reddit.
Others were quick to remind the community this feature is largely intended for streamers with thousands of hours played, though that didn’t stop some from suggesting different unlock tracks. “Maybe it would’ve been better to lock it behind endorsement level,” one fan suggested.
