Why are my ‘Overwatch 2’ characters locked?

Overwatch 2 is finally here and the game’s launch has been far from glamorous, instead plagued with many, many bugs and issues that have caused issues for multiple aspects of its experience.

When players have been able to get into the game one thing many have come to notice is that some characters are locked. While this does set off alarm bells for some players it isn’t a problem for all.

If you’re noticing locked characters in Overwatch 2 here is everything you should know about why that is happening so you can determine if it’s the right choice or an issue with the game.

Why are Overwatch 2 characters locked?

There are multiple reasons that you may be finding characters locked in Overwatch 2 with the first being that you simply haven’t unlocked them yet, and the other more serious reason is that the game is still having issues similar to those it faced at launch.

After the launch of Overwatch 2, an issue arose that would randomly put players into the game’s First Time User Experience despite the time they have played in Overwatch. This means that characters are automatically locked until a certain amount of games have been played. Similarly, the game modes available to new players are also limited.

If you are a new player to Overwatch 2 then you shouldn’t be alarmed to see these characters locked and as you play they will gradually become available to try out, but if you’re not new then there is an issue.

Sadly it looks like there is no assured fix that players can roll out on their end, instead, you’ll need to wait for Blizzard to fix the issue. If you are having this problem some players report having success by restarting their game so that should be the first thing you try. Blizzard also suggests that you ensure the merger process from the official Overwatch game is done correctly and completely so that you can skip the FTUE.