Overwatch 2 taking stricter action against cheaters in groups & abusive chat

The Overwatch team has revealed new measures to stop cheaters and toxic individuals from ruining games in OW2.

Overwatch 2’s third season is right around and corner and it’s looking to be one of the biggest updates yet with a new map, ranked changes, skins, and plenty of exciting content.

One of the big areas the developers are also looking to improve comes in the form of keeping Overwatch 2 fair and safe. That means cheaters and those who abuse chat are on their radar.

In a blog post, the devs highlighted some new features to combat hackers and protect players from nefarious activities plaguing the game.

Overwatch devs reveal features to combat cheating and toxicity

Fighting back against cheaters who are in groups is a big priority for the team and starting in Season 3, users who are identified as knowingly grouping with those who use hacks will be punished.

“While those who directly cheat are often permanently banned immediately, we will be issuing severe suspensions for extended amounts of time, and in extreme cases, outright bans, to those grouping up with known cheaters,” the devs explained.

Blizzard had already revealed measures it was taking to monitor chat through voice-to-text transcription. As it turns out, the feature has proven to be “exceptionally accurate and effective.”

According to the devs, they’ve already begun work on stopping abusive players by silencing their accounts and issuing suspensions. They also encourage users to report these players as soon as possible.

Streamers are also getting enhanced protection. Blizzard is allowing content creators to hide their BattleTag or hide the tags of the other players in the same game in addition to being able to hide queue times.

The devs say this should help prevent stream sniping, but admit that this is “not an easy problem to solve.”

If you’ve been nervous about jumping back into Overwatch 2, it seems like Season 3 will be a great time to rejoin the game, especially with Blizzard teasing much more exciting content in the near future.