Overwatch 2 is having serious performance issues on PlayStation 5.
As reported by Engadget, the game is facing serious frame drops on the platform, in what seems to be the first time it has experienced it since the game launched free-to-play. Some players claim that framerate drops to as low as 20 FPS. Other players point out they have 120Hz monitors, and have their PlayStation 5 set up for minimum lag accordingly, but they are still encountering these issues.
Blizzard has already noted that they are investigating such performance issues since Tuesday.
Now, it’s tempting to go tinfoil hat and say this has something to do with the developer, Blizzard, being purchased by Microsoft, who makes the PlayStation 5’s competitor, the Xbox. But that really doesn’t make sense for several reasons, and we’re going to run them down just so everything is clear.
First things first, whether Microsoft likes it or not, the PlayStation 5 is Overwatch 2’s lead platform. In a similar situation to the Call of Duty franchise, Microsoft is incentivized to keep publishing Overwatch games on PlayStation 5 because that’s where most gamers play.
Second of all, as is also noted by Engadget, Overwatch 2 plays just fine on PlayStation 4. So those gamers who are genuinely PlayStation loyalists can go back to their older console if they wanted to keep playing Overwatch 2 on PlayStation and keep going from there.
Third of all, the financial incentive also does not work the other way around. Which is to say, Microsoft won’t make more money from Overwatch 2 retail sales on Xbox, if the PlayStation 5 version stops working. Obviously, Overwatch 2 is free-to-play, and it isn’t a $ 60 or $ 70 retail release at all.
Finally, Blizzard is not really in a position to coerce their fans to move platforms. There actually are some cases where some games can try to pull that off historically, but that’s definitely not the case here.
Overwatch 2 may not be in as bad a situation as Destiny 2, but it’s still reeling from a loss of trust from fans, after Blizzard announced that they would not be able to fulfill their promise of massive PvE content. While there are valid questions on if Blizzard can keep their fanbase in the future, it’s definitely not at the same league as Destiny 2 now having to bet it all on The Final Shape, with Bungie’s independence at stake.
In any case, Blizzard is definitely working to get these issues fixed as soon as possible and fans probably won’t have to wait that long to play Overwatch 2 on PlayStation 5 again.
