Is Your Fellow Player "In a Different Version of 'Overwatch'"? There's a Fix for That

Cross-platform can be a beautiful thing, especially for online competitive games like Overwatch 2. The sequel to the massively-successful hero shooter is available on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC, but players can easily match up with each other online across different platforms so no one has to miss out on the action. But as with any major release of a mostly-online free-to-play game, there are bound to be some glitches at launch.

Aside from lengthy queue times to download the game and server issues affecting online play, some players are running into an error that reads, "Player is in a different version of Overwatch," preventing them from matching up with certain friends online. What exactly causes this error? More importantly, how can it be fixed? Check out our quick guide on how to address this Overwatch 2 problem.

Many new Overwatch 2 players have been voicing the same concern when trying to play online with their friends in the new sequel.

In a technical support post on Blizzard Entertainment forums, one user wrote that the error was preventing them from inviting friends to play online. This error message reads: "Player is in a different version of Overwatch."

"I mean, how is that possible?" they posted. "We both downloaded the same prepatch you just gave us to download."

Players have worked out a number of solutions to attempt to fix the problem. Many have found success in checking their game for updates and downloading any that Overwatch 2 might need to run properly.

Other players have manually typed out "/invite [player name]" in order to get a friend into their session.

You may also want to try logging out and logging back in, or even the time honored "turning your system off and on again."

Hopefully, one of the methods listed above will be able to resolve your "different version" issue. Blizzard Entertainment is also attempting to address a number of other issues amidst the launch of Overwatch 2, including "unexpected server errors" and pre-owned cosmetics not appearing in players' collections.

Overwatch 2 is now available on all major gaming platforms.