Fix Overwatch Not Launching - Windows Troubleshooting

You click Play on Battle.net and the game just refuses to open, or it flashes for a second and vanishes. It is incredibly frustrating when you just want to get into a match, but this usually happens because of corrupted local files or a permissions block.

Why this happens

Your game installation likely has corrupted files, or the Blizzard temporary cache folder has become mangled. Sometimes Windows security settings also prevent the game from initializing correctly.

Steps

1. 01
   Open Battle.net and click the gear icon next to the Play button, then select Scan and Repair to have Blizzard check your game files.
2. 02
   If using Steam, right-click Overwatch, select Properties, go to Installed Files, and click Verify integrity of game files.
3. 03
   Fully exit Battle.net by right-clicking the icon in your system tray and selecting Exit.
4. 04
   Press Windows Key + R, paste %programdata%/Blizzard Entertainment/Battle.net/Cache into the box, and press Enter.
5. 05
   Select all files within that folder by pressing Ctrl + A and delete them.
6. 06
   Right-click your Battle.net desktop shortcut and select Properties.
7. 07
   Go to the Compatibility tab, check Run this program as an administrator, and click Apply.