Fix Overwatch 2 Won’t Launch and Crashing at Startup

After a successful beta, back in June, the full release of Overwatch 2 is finally here. And Overwatch fans from all over the world are rejoicing at the moment. I mean, they are not wrong to celebrate. Overwatch 1 lost its charm years ago. So Overwatch players were desperately waiting for something new, for a while now. And Blizzard finally made their dream come true on October 4, 2022.

I am pretty sure that most of you know by now that Overwatch 2 is a first-person shooter developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It is a sequel to Overwatch, which was released back in 2016.

The game is intended to have a shared environment for PvP modes with the first game while introducing persistent cooperative modes. A major change in PvP was to remove a tank slot per team thus reducing teams to five players, instead of six.

Overwatch 2 is available free-to-play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in early access, will full cross-platform play support.

Now, Overwatch has always been a pretty optimized title. Yes, it is not the lightest game in the world, when it comes to requirements. But I remember it running quite well on low-end GPUs as well.

But the release of Overwatch 2 has changed the situation a bit. You see, the game is in Early Access at the moment. So bugs and technical errors are going to be common for a while.

It looks like Overwatch 2 won’t launch for some PC users, and players who are somehow managing to launch it, are experiencing crashing at startup. This is exclusively happening to Battle.net users, as I haven’t seen any console player report something similar yet.

The thing is, launch issues and crashing issues could get triggered by random stuff on your PC, and it is very hard to find the reason, as the reasons behind crashes vary from user to user.

Anyway, you have no other choice but to try fixing the issue using the trusty Trial and Error Method. Let’s get to fixing.

Fix Overwatch 2 Won’t Launch and Crashing at Startup

Here are the methods you can follow if Overwatch 2 won’t launch or is crashing for you:

Compare Overwatch 2 System Requirements with your Hardware Specs

A lot of people might think that just because their PC or Laptop used to run Overwatch 1 flawlessly, means they won’t have any issues running Overwatch 2, as well.

Unfortunately, that is not the truth. You see, Overwatch 2 is actually more demanding than Overwatch 1. When Overwatch 1 came out, it was actually very easy to get 1080p 60fps as the recommended requirements stated that you only need an i5 and a GTX 660 to get 60 fps on 1920×1080 resolution. But, the scenario with Overwatch 2 is not the same.

You need either a GTX 1650 or an AMD RX 6400, paired with either a Ryzen 5 or an i7, to get 60 FPS on 1080p. Check out this quick comparison to see what has changed:

Overwatch 2 doesn’t support Windows 7 or 8.1

Before you move any further in this guide, I would like you to make sure that you are using Windows 10. If you are not, then there is no point in reading this guide any further.

Unfortunately, Overwatch 2 won’t launch on Windows 7 or 8.1. It runs only on Windows 10 and, that too only on the 64-bit version. The Battle.net page of Overwatch 2 has specifically mentioned this.

There have been a lot of discussions regarding this, as there are still a ton of people who haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 or 11. But, I can confirm that the developers are not going to add Windows 7 support for Overwatch 2 anytime soon.

Download the latest Overwatch 2 driver from Nvidia

Now, a lot of times crashes or launch issues actually get triggered by incompatible drivers. That is why these GPU companies tend to release drivers for every AAA title. And there is one available for Overwatch 2 as well.

Nvidia has already released a Game Ready Driver for Overwatch 2. The version is 517.48 WHQL. Check out the release notes:

This new Game Ready Driver provides the best day-0 gaming experience for Overwatch 2. In addition, this new Game Ready Driver offers support for the latest releases and updates including the addition of NVIDIA DLSS technology to Microsoft Flight Simulator.

You can download the driver by visiting this link. Or, you can download and install the driver directly via the GeForce Experience app.

Download the latest AMD Overwatch 2 driver

If you are an AMD user, then I have to tell you that at the time when I am writing this article, which in on October 4, there is no AMD driver available for Overwatch. I have checked everywhere, and the last driver update was for Grounded.

But, you don’t have to worry. I am pretty sure the Red Team is going to release a driver update as soon as possible. As Overwatch 1 was well-supported by AMD. As soon as the driver gets released, I will update this article with all the info and the download link. So come back after a while.

Update – AMD has finally released a driver for Overwatch 2. It is called Adrenalin 22.10.1 Optional. You can download it via AMD Auto-Detect, or you can visit this link, select your GPU, and get the download link for the driver.

Some Razer files might actually cause Overwatch 2 crash

If you didn’t know, a lot of Razer users have had issues with Overwatch in the past. And that is due to the fact that Razer forces you to use their Software as soon as you plug in a Razer peripheral on your PC.

Also, Razer peripherals have the ability to sync with Overwatch automatically. And this has caused a ton of crashing issues in the past. Here are the files that normally interfere with the game:

• C:\Windows\System32\RzChromaSDK64.dll
• C:\Windows\SysWOW64\RzChromaSDK.dll
• C:\Windows\SysWOW64\RzAPIChromaSDK.dll

What is needed is to first remove Razer and then search for files that are left behind so you can then manually delete them. Generally, after doing this, you can then reinstall Razer and continue without a problem as the root cause of this has been addressed by Razer already.

The steps to take are to remove all things relating to Razer Synapse by uninstalling it from Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall Program. Then make sure that the following files are no longer on the computer. If they still exist and you are unable to delete them manually, contact Razer for help.

Note if you don’t see the files in the above areas, use file explorer and search your C: for anything “chroma”. You should find one or all of the above files but in a different folder on the system, and you can delete the files to resolve this problem.

Note: This fix has been suggested by Overwatch Technical Forum Agent, /Ir0nthorne.

Make sure that Windows 10 is updated

Now, Blizzard has mentioned specifically that you need the latest service pack of Windows 10 to play Overwatch. So, having just Windows 10 won’t do. You need to have the latest version.

Just to give you a heads-up, I am using Windows 10 Version 21H2 (OS Build 19044.2006) on all four of my test rigs, and Overwatch 2 runs flawlessly on all of them.

I am pretty sure that I don’t need to tell you how to update Windows. But if you haven’t manually updated Windows ever, here is how to do it:

• Go to your Windows Settings
• Click on Update & Security
• Click on “Check for updates”

Note: Do not download and install any update that has “Optional” written on top or beside it. Optional updates tend to break systems a lot.

Use the Scan and Repair feature of Battle.net

Even after downloading the appropriate drivers if Overwatch 2 is still not launching or is crashing at startup for you, then the reason behind that could be a corrupted file. In that you need to scan for corrupted files and repair them. To do that:

• Launch Battle.net.
• Go to your games library and select Overwatch.
• Click on the ‘Setting’ icon beside the ‘Play’ button
• Select ‘Scan and Repair’
• Now, wait for Battle.net to scan the installation files. If it finds that any file is corrupted, then it will repair it. And if it finds that a file is missing, it will redownload it.

Try closing all other applications to resolve software conflicts and free up resources

Often, Third-party apps running in the background can interfere with games. Here is what you need to do to temporarily disable these programs and eliminate them as the source of the problem:

Before trying the steps below, close unnecessary programs and restart your computer.

• Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open the Task Manager.
• Click More Details.
• Select the Startup tab.
• Right-click on each item and select Disable.
• Restart the computer.

If this resolves the issue, enable the startup application one at a time to determine which one is causing the problem. You will need to restart between each application you enable.

Note: To re-enable startup applications, follow steps 1-4 and select Enable.

Your System might be missing necessary C++ Redistributable files

You have to make sure that you are using the latest version of Visual C++ redistributable, as there’s a chance it hasn’t been installed correctly.

Visit this link and download the latest one. The 64-bit version is the version you should be installing. So click on the one that says “x64: vc_redist.x64“. Restart your PC after the installation is complete.

Your Anti-virus Software might be blocking the game

In some cases, the .exe file of Overwatch 2 might be getting silently quarantined by some antivirus software, preventing the game from launching.

In that case, you might need to disable the Real-Time Scanning function or Real-Time Protection function of your Anti-virus to play. If you do not want to completely disable the software, then you will have to add the .exe of Overwatch 2 to the Exceptions list of your AV Software.

Also, you need to make sure that you have allowed Overwatch.exe on Windows Firewall.

Instead of Battle.net, try running the game directly via the executable of Overwatch 2

Try running the executable file or .exe file of Overwatch 2 as admin. Just head over to the folder where you have installed Overwatch 2 (The installation folder is called ‘Overwatch’ and not ‘Overwatch 2’, btw).

Right-click on overwatch.exe and select Properties. Now click on the Compatibility tab and check the box beside “Run this program as an administrator”. Start the game directly by double-clicking on the .exe file, instead of launching it via Battle.net.

Try disabling High DPI Scaling and Fullscreen Optimizations

At this point, if the game is still now working for you, then the problem is deeper than you think. But, there are still a few stuff that has worked in the past for Overwatch players. Not sure, if these will work with Overwatch 2 though.

Now, what you need to do is:

• Go to the installation folder of Overwatch 2, and right-click on it.
• Select Properties.
• Click on the Compatibility tab.
• Check the box beside ‘Disable fullscreen optimizations’.
  
• Try to run the game now.

Overwatch 2 still not starting?*sigh*. Alright, try this then:

• Go to the installation folder of Overwatch 2, and right-click on it.
• Select Properties.
• Click on the Compatibility tab.
• Click on ‘Change high DPI settings’.
• Check the box beside ‘Override high DPI scaling behavior’.
  
• Set ‘Scaling performed by:’ to ‘Application’.

After trying all these methods, if Overwatch 2 is still not starting for you or is immediately crashing at launch, then you have no other choice but to redownload or reinstall the entire game on a different drive.

Update – October 8, 2022 – Blizzard has posted some fixes regarding this actually. You can check them out here. Not sure how effective they are, though.

If you don’t feel like doing that then you can wait for Blizzard to release patches, or you can contact Overwatch Support and send them a ticket. I will be on my toes for the next few days, looking for guaranteed fixes. And as soon as I find something, I will immediately update this article. If you want you can bookmark this page.

If you think this guide has helped you then let us know in the comment section below. And for more Overwatch 2 guides, keep an eye on Frondtech. We will be covering every single technical issue and bug of the game. Good luck!

That’s all folks!

Last Updated on October 8, 2022

Shoaib

Shoaib, 30, is a simple guy who loves to play video games, and enjoys new cuisines sporadically. He has been gaming since he was 7 years old, and with an experience of 22 years, under his belt, there is not a single AAA game in this world, that he hasn’t played. Despite being a MBA Graduate he decided to follow his passion. And because of his love for gaming, Frondtech came into existence.