Overwatch 2 new 'locked heroes' bug frustrating many, issue acknowledged (potential workaround)

Overwatch 2 recently arrived as the long-awaited sequel to Activision-Blizzard’s popular Hero Shooter. Unfortunately, the launch has been a bit bumpy with multiple problems involved.

We have already recently covered issues such as progression missing after merging PC and console accounts, the Watchpoint Pack not working or the login and connection errors.

Now, the latest bug directly affects characters unlocked by players. According to multiple reports, most heroes are currently locked for many Overwatch 2 players.

Currently, much of the Overwatch 2 hero roster is locked for many players for no apparent reason. The issue started a few hours ago and persists until now.

Logged into the game today, all of my heroes are now locked

I’ve owned Overwatch since day one. I played just fine for a couple days, why are all of my heroes locked out of nowhere?
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Re-locking of characters

Hey I’ve been an overwatch player for a while now and for the first few days of overwatch 2 everything was working fine, but suddenly this morning I’ve been locked out of half the roster. I still have all my cosmetics and everything and it still lists them on my career profile but I can’t play them anymore.
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Also, it seems that the bug is affecting different consoles and platforms randomly. There are players whose heroes are locked on one console but are available on another console.

Fortunately, the issue has already been acknowledged by Overwatch 2 developers. However, there is no ETA for a fix yet.

We continue to make progress through launch issues and have updates on many known issues.
We are also investing a new issue that prevents players from accessing all their owned heroes. We’re working to resolve this as quickly as possible!
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In the meantime, there is a potential workaround that has helped some players get their locked heroes back:

For anyone from OV1 who got locked out of characters today close your game and restart. I saw it on another post and tried it just now and all of my hero gallery is open.
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It’s worth pointing out that right now the Overwatch 2 servers are down. So, it is possible that the company is implementing a fix, but we will have to wait to confirm this.

We will be monitoring the situation to update this story as events unfold.

NOTE: You can also check our Overwatch 2 bugs/issues tracker.

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