MAJOR Game-Breaking Audio Issues! 🔊

[FledgeSRondo-1441]

Look at this video. Listen closely at the start for Widow’s footsteps, easy to notice right? Then, see if you can hear the Mei’s footsteps at all before she kills me.

Overwatch: No Footsteps Issue Again

As you can see in the killcam, the Mei wasn’t crouch-walking, she just walked right up and freeze killed me. No footsteps, no time to react, just instant death. My sound effect settings are at max with voice/music volume down to half. I’ve checked on different devices and the lost audio is the same (high quality Sennheiser headphones, 5.1 Surround sound, laptop, smartphone, etc.). And this isn’t the FIRST time this has happened, and I’m not the only one.

This audio priority issue and the disappearance of certain sound effects has been affecting many people on different platforms over the past few weeks, and there have been multiple posts popping up describing the experience:

Is there a known issue with sound effects going around?

I’m wondering if this is a global thing or device specific. I have two different setups with some logitech z506 5.1 surround sound speakers coming through an onboard realtek hd audio driver. I also have a logitech g933 gaming headset. This “issue” is occuring with both of these no matter what type of configuration or surround sound options I use. I know one of the bug fixes that went in adjusted the sound of combat from far away by a good deal but this is seemingly unrelated. Certain sound e…

Why are quiet enemy footsteps still a thing? 2017-2020, Fix this already

Why can a reaper who is supposed to have the loudest footsteps in the game get within 5 meter distance and 2shot people before anybody can even hear him? Why can this happen multiple times simply because you’re unable to hear the footsteps sounds so he gets a free flank? Why does the same happen to deadly enemies like mccree? How come I can still hear enemies above me on a platform having a rave party with zero difficulty, but enemies right next to me are soundless assassins that can get within…

Some sound effects cut out

Sometimes when entering a game, a static pop sound plays and when entering the game, some sound effects go missing (such as point capture sound, footsteps sound, other sfx along those lines). I have checked my volume to make sure they are all at 100, and they are. Sounds that I know go missing: Footstep sounds Point capture sound/objective won/lost sound Torbjorn turret upgrade sound/molten core sound Sfx for hero abilities (e.g. Pharah jump jet, Tracer blink) Ambient music Loot box “thump” an…

Audio Priorities Issue/Bug

In this Deathmatch Petra video, in a quiet corridor a McCree completely blindsides me because his footsteps are extremely quiet. Minutes later in the exact same spot, I can easily hear the loud footsteps of a Widowmaker who’s actually further away. Obviously there’s no reason that the McCree footsteps can’t be as loud as the Widow’s, logically it’s not an issue with my sound system (the video was uploaded direct from PS4 to Youtube and the volume discrepancy is the same across devices, laptop…

It goes without saying that not being able to hear footsteps of enemies who are extremely dangerous at close quarters like McCree, Reaper and Mei is practically a death sentence.

But it gets worse. This lost audio has been affecting everything from highlight intros, to emotes, to even ults. Players have described not hearing a McCree ult getting announced and dying as a result. I personally experienced getting killed by an unannounced Hanzo dragon ult.

There is something majorly wrong and buggy with the audio in the game right now. If you too are experiencing sound effect cut outs or deprioritization of important sounds, post about it here. Blizzard needs to give this issue attention pronto, because players are dying and potentially losing matches as a result.

[MajorTom-22502]

Hanzos food steps are very quiet too, for a hero with 250 crit damage they seems very quiet also jumping/landing is much lauder.

But yes I find my self dead before the announcements finish lately a lot or not even hear the pulse bomb till it explode. I wish ults would also show up in the kill feed, this would help a lot.

[FledgeSRondo-1441]

Exactly, it happens with Hanzo’s footsteps as well, check out this other video where I trip a Venom Mine which doesn’t make the explosion sound effect (so the only indication is the coughing), I go chase the Widow and you can hear her machine gun easily, but a Hanzo who comes running in next to me is basically inaudible like a floating ghost.