Overwatch 2 Crossplay Had This Feature Removed And Console Gamers Are Livid

Where do you stand when it comes to aim-assist in games? There are players out there who consider it cheating, while others consider it a necessity if you're a console controller player. It seems Blizzard's take on it with respect to Overwatch 2 is that, if you're using a controller, you're not playing the game to its full potential, because aim assist is turned off in cross-play.

Many of us probably know one or two of those console gamers who just won't go to PC because they claim PC is rampant with cheating. Admittedly, it likely is, compared to consoles, when you consider how much time and money is invested in anti-cheating methods and platforms. Add in that there has been some noise in the PC anti-cheating world because of kernel-level anti-cheats, and it does seem that the hassle these days is hardly worth it.

However, when it comes to console first-person shooters, having that aim assist does admittedly feel better. That close enough shot actually counting sure is satisfying. And when you're on nothing but consoles, it could be argued that it helps to make sure the playing field is fair. PC gamers, on the other hand, have been fighting back against this for years, because the opinion is that if folks want to have an equivalent cross-play experience, they should be using the same kind of input without any additional assistance. To PC gamers, aim assist, no matter how it's implemented, is cheating.

All this said, u/KellySweetHeart on the r/Overwatch subreddit pointed out that when playing with their PC friends, that they are getting dominated quite handily. This in turn is reducing their experience and making it not fun for them. Some users, of course, tell fellow gamers that they should just game on a PC, though there are some valid concerns with respect to cost. Others have told people to try to plug in a mouse and keyboard to their consoles, but there's no guarantee Overwatch 2 on consoles has full support that isn't somehow hindered, and in many games for consoles, players are unable to switch their mouse sensitivity.

Blizzard's initial decision on this is quite a departure from other first-person shooters that allow for cross-play as well. Fortnite and other popular games have aim-assist on, while others in the past used to nerf mouse control and sort of throttle it to the maximum speed a console gamer could rotate.
We at HotHardware understand the cost concern, and the traditional argument is that consoles "cost less" to play games, which is technically true. Except that when you calculate total cost of games, online subscriptions, and equipment purchases over the lifetime of a console (about 6-8 years,) you often end up breaking about even versus a mid-tier gaming PC in the same lifetime of ownership. This is not always true, definitely not lately thanks to the scalpers in the GPU market over the last few years, however it has been in the past and as markets fluctuate it's likely to become true at some point again. Also consider that some consoles generally do not support proper backwards compatibility as well as PCs, while in most cases, you buy a PC games and you pretty much can run it forever, reducing cost over time.


That said, between the two options (PCs and consoles), if you just want to hop into the game sooner rather than later, a console can be a cleaner option for ease of use. However, if you want a workhorse that also plays games, then the PC makes more sense. If you're a streamer or content creator as well as a gamer, though, there's nothing quite like what full modern PC experiences and capabilities can offer.

Regardless, hopefully Blizzard will hear these concerns and at least provide the option for cross-play players to turn on or off aim-assist when playing with their controller-bound cousins.