Blizzard is Banning Cheaters from Overwatch



Overwatch logoBlizzard wasn’t kidding when it said it would ban players who cheat from being able to play Overwatch. The game launched on May 24, 2016. Already, there is indication that the bans have begun.

PC Gamer appears to be the first to report about the bans. They mention that one player got banned, bought the game again, and found that doing so was not a way to get around the ban. He still couldn’t play Overwatch.

To me, this is a sign that Blizzard’s ban on cheaters who play Overwatch is being done differently than how they have banned cheating players from some of their other games. It has been said (on forums I will not link to because they discuss things that are definitely against Blizzard’s terms of service) that cheaters who got banned from Diablo III were able to play the game again if they purchased a new copy.

Blizzard posted a list of 1,572 players who are in China, who have cheated, and who got banned from Overwatch as a result. (Some of the battletag names on that list are in English, and several are NSFW). So far, I haven’t seen a similar “name and shame” list of banned Overwatch players in other regions, but China is not the only region in which cheating players have been banned.

Blizzard was absolutely serious when they stated, on May 13, 2016, that they would ban players who cheat in Overwatch. Their original post warned: “If a player is found to be cheating -or using hacks, bots, or third-party software that provides any sort of unfair advantage – that player will be permanently banned from the game. Full stop.” I’d like to see Blizzard do that same ban on the players who cheat in their other games, too.

There is at least one Overwatch player who is very happy about the bans on players who were cheating. This player is thankful that Blizzard is keeping a zero-tolerance policy on cheating in Overwatch. He also feels that the way the bans were implemented could discourage other players from cheating.