A small change made to Overwatch 2's in-game scoreboards is making some players upset, perhaps irrationally. Since the weekly update for Overwatch 2 arrives, certain players have noticed something off about the scoreboard but couldn't figure out exactly what was off. It turns out that Blizzard removed the commas used to separate large numbers every three digits. Overwatch 2 players say that the change in readability is surprisingly disruptive, and are hoping for Blizzard to change it back.
The in-game Overwatch 2 scoreboard is relatively thin on details, but players love checking what details are provided to gain a general awareness of how teammates and opponents are performing. The scoreboard lists Eliminations, Assists, Deaths, Damage, Healing, and Mitigation. The latter three statistics can grow into fairly large numbers with a maximum of five digits. As a result, in Western countries, a comma would appear after the first three digits from the right.
Players have only just noticed that Blizzard decided to remove those scoreboard commas in a recent Overwatch 2 update. Only the commas appearing within the scoreboard itself have been removed. They still are being shown in a player's personal statistics, it seems. Regardless, some players are frustrated with the change. One popular Reddit post is titled, "Blizzard removed comma's from the score board and im very upset about it." It's packed with comments that are unhappy with the change.
While it's unclear why Blizzard removed the commas, Overwatch 2 players have some theories. They note that other regions don't use commas, so Blizzard might simply be shifting to a format that's region-agnostic. Asia's servers, apparently, already don't use commas. Blizzard may also be trying to save space on the scoreboard, whether because it believes it provides better clarity or as part of plans to change the UI in the future. Alternatively, some players believe it might just be an Overwatch 2 bug Blizzard will correct in its next update.
Most Overwatch 2 players won't necessarily be bothered by the change. Slight annoyance aside, the scoreboard is still generally readable and most Overwatch 2 players are already aware of the range of numbers to be expected on the scoreboard. However, there's an excellent counterpoint, which is that the change is likely bad for accessibility. Players with dyslexia or dyscalculia may have issues with the scoreboard now that they didn't have before.
In the end, these types of changes typically are done for complicated reasons and are rarely reverted, whether it's in Overwatch 2 or otherwise. While accessibility is a concern, it's possible that Blizzard believes the benefits of the change outweigh the negatives. Regional uniformity could benefit Overwatch 2 more than rare negative use cases for a feature that isn't necessary for gameplay. Still, Overwatch 2 players that are unhappy with the change should absolutely let Blizzard know, because the team is undoubtedly listening.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
