Blizzard will enforce immediate bans for Overwatch cheaters

This means even if it's your first offense, you should probably expect a permanent ban from the game.

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While Blizzard has been enjoying its biggest open beta ever with Overwatch, it’s been putting some serious consideration into properly punishing those who attempt to cheat their way to the top. Today, Blizzard has issued a statement regarding potential cheaters in Overwatch, and their response will be swift and decisive.

In an announcement published on Blizzard’s forums, community manager Lylirra shares the company’s stance on cheating will be to permanently ban any player caught cheating, using hacks, bots, or third-party software that gives players an unfair advantage. There won’t be any second chances with Overwatch as Blizzard feels cheating “undermine the spirit of fair play that all of our products are based on.”

Blizzard also mentions it’s unlikely it will publicly acknowledge when accounts are closed as a result of cheating or using unauthorized software. It has and will continue to monitor Overwatch for exploitative behavior and will take action when needed to preserve the integrity of the game. In fact, Blizzard has already removed players who were found to be cheating during the beta.

Those who believe they’ve come across a cheater can submit an email to hacks@blizzard.com or submit their report directly in Overwatch’s game client. But Blizzard wants players to keep a couple of things in mind prior to reporting a cheater:

  • Our in-game camera system does not always play back footage at the same fidelity as real-time gameplay (this loss in fidelity applies to the killcam, Plays of the Game, Highlights, and—to a lesser extent—the spectator camera as well). This can sometimes result in a player’s aim appearing more snappy or less fluid in playback than it did in-game.
  • With the above, there may be bugs with the in-game camera system that affect playback footage. In the Closed Beta, we actually had a bug that caused the killcam and spectator camera angle to suddenly “snap” whenever Zarya cast Particle Barrier or Projected Barrier. While we’re unaware of any issues with the camera system at present, undiscovered bugs are always a possibility to consider.
  • Lastly, some players are just really good at first-person shooters. Through practice and years of experience, these players’ movements and reaction times can occasionally appear unnatural (if not physically impossible) to those who may not have been exposed to that particular level of play before.

Overwatch will release on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on May 24, 2016.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 13, 2016 8:05 AM

    Daniel Perez posted a new article, Blizzard will enforce immediate bans for Overwatch cheaters

    • reply
      May 13, 2016 8:43 AM

      It is a real statement about the industry when a company relessing an online multiplayer game has to announce that they will actually be doing their job.

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      May 13, 2016 9:29 AM

      Good. The Division's half-measure was ridiculous. Unless there's a reason to think it's a false positive, a permanent ban is the only acceptable response to cheating in multiplayer games.

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      May 13, 2016 10:02 AM

      Looks like the email address in the article is spelled wrong, btw. Not being picky, just making sure if anyone needs to use the address they will have the correct one.

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      May 13, 2016 10:15 AM

      Much better than Ubisoft's limp dick solution to cheating.

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      May 13, 2016 10:18 AM

      your email address for Blizzard is incorrect

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      May 15, 2016 8:28 AM

      Although I'm completely against cheating in games, I think this new trend is very much the wrong one. This blames customers for the mistakes of the developers. If they want to punish someone, should be that when a bug is exploited, the developer(s) and QA people involved in that bug should be suspended from their job, and fired if the bug is severe. I bet you the number of exploits would dramatically drop if they did that.

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        May 15, 2016 8:29 AM

        Or better yet suspend/fire the company execs who don't want to invest more in anti-cheating techniques.

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