'Overwatch 2' will punish players who regularly team up with cheaters
Blizzard is also adding a system to automatically remove inappropriate custom game modes.
With the third season of Overwatch 2 set to debut on February 7, Blizzard is stepping up its efforts to combat cheating. In a blog post published on Wednesday, the studio said it will begin identifying players who regularly play with known cheaters. Blizzard says the owners of these accounts will face repercussions, even if they're not fooling themselves. He cautions against "harsh suspensions" and, in some cases, outright bans.
Next season, Blizzard will also introduce a moderation system for custom game modes. The company says the new technology will automatically remove games with inappropriate titles or content and penalize accounts that create and publish these modes. The system comes after Overwatch's original "Sexual Harassment Simulator" custom mode made a brief reappearance last month. The mode tasked players with impregnating the game's female heroes while playing as Cole Cassidy, the hero renamed Blizzard after allegations of his "frat boy" work culture came to light in 2021. After the mode appeared in < em>Overwatch 2 most popular list, Blizzard took action but did not say how it would prevent a similar incident from happening again.
Finally, Blizzard says it is taking action against a practice known as stream sniping. If you've ever watched a popular streamer play a multiplayer game like Overwatch 2 or Valorant, you know how frustrating it is for content creators when someone tries to line up in the same match and uses a stream to give themselves a competitive advantage. Starting in Season 3, players will have the ability to prevent their BattleTag and the tags of anyone else in their match from appearing in their game client. Blizzard will also allow players to hide or delay their waiting time. The studio says these measures should prevent someone watching a stream from determining whether they are in the same lobby as a streamer. You'll find the toggles to enable these features in Overwatch 2's social settings.
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Blizzard is also adding a system to automatically remove inappropriate custom game modes.
With the third season of Overwatch 2 set to debut on February 7, Blizzard is stepping up its efforts to combat cheating. In a blog post published on Wednesday, the studio said it will begin identifying players who regularly play with known cheaters. Blizzard says the owners of these accounts will face repercussions, even if they're not fooling themselves. He cautions against "harsh suspensions" and, in some cases, outright bans.
Next season, Blizzard will also introduce a moderation system for custom game modes. The company says the new technology will automatically remove games with inappropriate titles or content and penalize accounts that create and publish these modes. The system comes after Overwatch's original "Sexual Harassment Simulator" custom mode made a brief reappearance last month. The mode tasked players with impregnating the game's female heroes while playing as Cole Cassidy, the hero renamed Blizzard after allegations of his "frat boy" work culture came to light in 2021. After the mode appeared in < em>Overwatch 2 most popular list, Blizzard took action but did not say how it would prevent a similar incident from happening again.
Finally, Blizzard says it is taking action against a practice known as stream sniping. If you've ever watched a popular streamer play a multiplayer game like Overwatch 2 or Valorant, you know how frustrating it is for content creators when someone tries to line up in the same match and uses a stream to give themselves a competitive advantage. Starting in Season 3, players will have the ability to prevent their BattleTag and the tags of anyone else in their match from appearing in their game client. Blizzard will also allow players to hide or delay their waiting time. The studio says these measures should prevent someone watching a stream from determining whether they are in the same lobby as a streamer. You'll find the toggles to enable these features in Overwatch 2's social settings.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices correct at time of publication.
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