Overwatch 2: Characters Locked Bug [FIXED]

Table of Contents

What Is Characters Locked Bug

The bug is locking characters that were previously playable with seemingly no explanation. Only the 13 heroes that are unlocked from the very beginning of the game are playable. This means that any heroes that you unlocked throughout the game are simply not available.

In some reports of the bug, however, purchasable characters like Kiriko, Junker Queen, and Sojourn are also available.

Overwatch 2 Hero Gallery with more than half the characters locked. — More than half of the characters are locked. -Image Captured By us.

You can see now why the bug is a pretty big problem. Players are unable to play basically more than half of the heroes. And the situation becomes even direr when some of these locked characters are their mains.

So how do you fix this bug? Unfortunately, there is no official fix at the time of this writing, nor is there any update fixing the bug. However, you can still try several fixes that have worked for some users.

Key Takeaways:

Overwatch 2 characters have been locked due to a bug.
Only the 13 default heroes are available.
The bug is caused by the game mistaking your account for a new one.
You can fix the issue by relaunching the game or logging in and out.
Changing regions may also work.
The game developers are working on it but the bug is still not fixed.

How To Check If The Characters Locked Bug Is Affecting You

How do you know that the characters locked bug is affecting you? It can be pretty obvious most of the time. All of the characters that you have unlocked will simply be unplayable. However, if you main any of the 13 starter heroes, you might not even notice that the other heroes are locked.

To check if the characters are locked for you:

Launch Overwatch 2.
Open the Hero Gallery. Do not enter into any queues for competitive plays or quick rounds.
Heroes that are affected by the bug will have a small lock sybo to the bottom right of their portraits. Look at any hero besides the 13 starter heroes and, if they have a lock next to them, you cannot play them.

How To Fix The Characters Locked Bug In Overwatch 2?

Although there is no official fix, there are some solutions that do work for some players. Keep in mind, however, that these do not work for everyone.

Restart The Game:

The classic “try turning it on and off again” never disappoints. Many people reported that the bug gets fixed when you restart the game.

First, if you closed the game before, try restarting it to see if the problem is fixed.
If not, close the game.
Launch Task Manager by pressing down the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys on your keyboard.
You should be able to see tasks associated with Overwatch 2. Make sure that you’ve clicked on “More details” at the bottom left.
Click on the Overwatch 2 task and click on “End task” near the bottom right of the Task Manager. If no Overwatch 2 tasks are running, skip this step.
Launch Overwatch 2 again and go to the Hero Gallery. The problem should be fixed by now.

One of the possible reasons why this works is that the FTUE mistakes your account for a new account. By restarting the game, you’re resetting the FTUE and hence reversing the glitch. However, this method doesn’t work for everyone.

Log Back Into Your Blizzard Account:

Just like restarting the game resets the FTUE, logging in and out of your Blizzard account may have the same effect.

Go to the home page of Battle.net and click on your profile at the very top-right corner of the screen.
In the drop-down menu, click on “Log Out”. Log out of your Battle.net profile. -Image Captured By us.
Then, you will be logged out of your account and the log-in screen will appear. If it doesn’t, launch Battle net again.
Enter your email address and password. Click on “Keep me logged in”. Enter your credentials to log in to your account. -Image Captured By us.
Change Your Region:

Another possible fix for unlocking the characters is changing your region. This has only worked for a few players but it’s a solution that’s still worth a try.
1. Launch the Battle.net desktop application.
2. Click on the Overwatch 2 tile.
3. Locate the globe icon and click on it.
4. Select any region that’s not the current one.
5. Select the region you want to switch to. -Image Captured By us.
6. This should change your region. You can restart the game if the region does not change.
Is The Overwatch 2 Characters Locked Bug Fixed?

Unfortunately, as of the writing of this article, the bug still has not been fixed. However, Overwatch 2 developers have acknowledged the existence of this bug. Moreover, they have also theorized a possible reason for the bug’s occurrence.

According to official reports, servers that are designed to keep track of a player’s progress faced a bug. This resulted in the servers mistaking older accounts for new players. And hence, all the previously acquired heroes were reset.

The game is still playable. Just not with your favorite heroes. So are the game developers working on this? Yes. In a recent forum update on the official Overwatch 2 forum, the developers mentioned the bug. They said that they were working on it to resolve the issue.

However, as of now, the bug hasn’t been fixed. The only hope now is to wait and carefully watch their Twitter page to stay updated on when the bug is fixed.

Final Words

New games and bugs go together like Bonnie and Clyde. Hence, it’s no surprise that Overwatch 2 is facing a slew of unfavorable bugs. Besides the other glitches, the Overwatch 2 characters locked bug has been causing quite a commotion in the playing community.

Although there are a few fixes that have worked for some people, many people still are locked out of using half the hero roster. At this point, the only thing a player can do is wait for the developers to fix the issue.

We hope this guide helped you know more about the bug and how to fix it. Fingers crossed for the bug to get fixed!

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Maaz Bin Faisal
An enthusiastic writer who loves art and gaming, you can find Maaz casually spending his day either behind the keyboard or the canvas. Maaz holds a major in Electronics and has over 5 years of experience working as a freelance blog and content writer. He loves to talk about all things gaming and help other gamers through his guides. He’s an expert when it comes to Diablo 4, Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3.

Maaz mostly plays games on PC, you can check out his library on Steam attached below:

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