Moving a live-service game to a new platform is always tricky, with years of stats, ranks and skins at risk that players have spent precious time and money on.
Overwatch 2 faced this particular conundrum with Overwatch 1 shutting down and all players moved to the free-to-play sequel.
Luckily, however, everything can be brought with you no matter what platform you played on as all you need to do is merge your accounts.
However, linking said accounts can be a bit tricky and you only get one shot to get this right – so here’s everything you need to know about merging your Overwatch 2 accounts.
How to link Overwatch 2 accounts
To bring over your Overwatch progress and enable cross-progression, you need to merge your Overwatch accounts with a Battle.net account. A Battle.net account is required to play Overwatch 2 on all platforms anyway, so you’ll need to create an account regardless if you don’t already have one.
PC players will already be playing on a Battle.net account, but console users may need to set one up. You can create a Battle.net account linked to your Overwatch account by following these simple steps:
- Log in to Overwatch on console (make sure this is the account you want to merge)
- Scan the on-screen QR code with your mobile device
- Enter the code displayed on your console to connect or create a Battle.net account
- If you wish to merge multiple Overwatch accounts, do this now through the Battle.net Account settings (see below)
- Next time you log into Overwatch, you will be prompted to confirm your console account and the merge will be complete
You can also do this on PC if you already have a Battle.net account, which may be easier if you are merging multiple platforms. This can be done through this method:
- Load Battle.net, click your account name at the top of the screen and click ‘My Account’
- Select ‘Connections’ and then you’ll see an option to add an Xbox, Playstation or Nintendo account
- Add as many accounts as you like, log into Overwatch and select ‘Account Merge’ on the main menu
- Check you have the correct console accounts listed on your screen and confirm that you would like to merge them. Follow the on-screen prompts and your accounts will be merged in no time!
Bear in mind you can only merge accounts once, so make sure you merge the correct accounts and platforms. You can only merge one account from each platform – that’s one from Xbox, one from Nintendo, one from Playstation and no more.
You can later unlink or switch the console account linked to your Battle.net ID, but bear in mind there will be a one-year wait before you are able to switch linked accounts again.
The Overwatch website has an extensive FAQ page for any tricky questions you may have, especially if you have several Overwatch accounts on multiple platforms.
Overwatch 2 Account Merging and Cross Progression
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Once you’ve merged your accounts, all of your progress and unlocks will be stored and unified on your Battle.net account. This includes credits, tokens, competitive points, stats and presets.
You will also have enabled cross-progression (not to be confused with Overwatch 2’s cross-play), which means progress will carry over no matter what platform you play on – as long as this is on your linked account of course.
There are a couple of small caveats, however – Overwatch League Tokens purchased on Nintendo Switch cannot be merged and will remain only on the Switch, while Overwatch 2 achievements/trophies will be merged on your Battle.net account but not automatically unlocked on other platforms.
If you’re merging multiple accounts, the highest number for rank and best value stats will be used while cumulative stats will be combined.
But other than that you’re good to go, ready to play against your friends on whatever platform you’d like!
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