Overwatch 2 devs plead with players to stop smurfing: “It’s the bane of my existence”

The Overwatch 2 developers are warning players not to smurf and have a bone to pick with streamers who partake in bronze to GM challenges.

Smurfing has long been a big issue with Overwatch, dating way back to the first game where experienced players would get a second account to stomp noobs.

In particular, streamers would broadcast special “challenges” where they’d buy an account in bronze and then climb the ladder all the way up to Grand Master or even Top 500, all for content.

Although Overwatch 2 has tried to deal with smurfs by locking heroes behind a battle pass and requiring SMS verification, the devs have openly stated they don’t want players to be smurfing.

Overwatch 2 devs call out smurfs for Unranked to GM challenges

During a developer stream, Morgan Maddren and Scott Mercer were talking about the Overwatch 2 matchmaker when the topic of smurfing came up.

According to Morgan, the team took several steps to tune the new player experience for the sequel and how they get ranked up before taking aim at smurfs.

“One thing that’s the bane of my existence is when people do unranked to GM. You know, they make a fresh account and then play to GM,” he said.

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Morgan went on to add that the matchmaker can identify smufs based on win streaks and the ease in which the matchmaker can calibrate players to their true skill level. However, Mercer reiterated that smurfing still isn’t good.

“Just to be clear, please don’t do that,” he pleaded with his hands together in a jokingly begging manner.

Whether or not the devs’ comments can deter smurfing remains to be seen, but it’s certainly something that the Overwatch 2 team doesn’t seem to be very fond of in the slightest.