- More ban waves come to Overwatch as Blizzard drops the hammer on 18,000 accounts
- The company continues to suspend “suspicious” accounts for various offenses but mostly targeting hacker
- Overwatch faces various problems, from lack of new heroes to delays in OW 2's development, and a potential postponement of the next OWL season
As Overwatch continues to face challenges, a new ban wave has now suspended 18,000 game accounts for various offenses, and specifically cheating.
Overwatch Accounts Suspended Again to Cull Hackers
Blizzard has carried out a new culling suspending over 18,000 Overwatch accounts the company has deemed suspicious. The resulting wave is one of the biggest ban actions Blizzard has carried out and comes in a slightly fraught context when fans are disgruntled with the lack of new hero releases, and the company itself faces a lawsuit.
While Overwatch has been live since 2016, the game is far from tackling the issue of cheating and hacking, although the game has done far better than others, such as PUBG and Call of Duty Warzone, in reigning in the number of cheaters.
Blizzard has taken a particular interest in smurf accounts, which are used by higher-skilled players to disrupt play at much lower levels. While smurf accounts have been mostly eradicated, or at least kept under tight control, hackers have been an all-around problem.
Earlier this year, the company didn't hesitate to drop the ban hammer on 10,000 accounts, marking its determination and zero-tolerance policy towards cheating. In the past three months alone, Blizzard has suspended 24,000 accounts, and these numbers are stacking up.
Blizzard Keen on Improving the Community and Gameplay
Commenting on the company's future efforts, Overwatch community manager AndyB made “a blue post” in which he outlined the company's determination to eradicate hackers and other disruptors:
“This is all a part of our ongoing commitment to anti-cheat efforts,” the message read. “Thank you for all of your reports, and please continue to use the report feature in-game,” AndyB ended the message.
Hacking has been the downfall of gaming communities, but never has it been as rampant as it is in the age of F2P games. Dr. Disrespect has openly walked away on Call of Duty: Warzone, slamming the game and arguing that it was beyond help.
However, Activision, the sister company Blizzard was acquired by, has made significant efforts to clamp down on hackers, and it has mostly been doing well by implementing a range of solutions.
In the meantime, there have been rumors that the Overwatch League's next season may face delays or be postponed because of Overwatch 2's development schedule target, which has been reportedly missed.
