Blizzard Unveils Plan to Deal with Overwatch Cheaters

Blizzard have laid out their plans to deal with cheats in Overwatch, and encourage you to report anything you spot privately to hacks@blizzard.com as opposed to accusing people publicly.

As written in a blog post over on the official Overwatch forums, players caught cheating will be banned permanently, with no second chance. Here's a section of the post from Blizzard:

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. Not only does cheating undermine the spirit of fair play that all of our products are based on, but it works to diminish the fun and enjoyment of others. While we are unlikely to publicly acknowledge when accounts are closed as a result of cheating or using unauthorized programs, we have and will continue to monitor Overwatch for exploitative behavior, as well as take action as needed to preserve the integrity of game.

These assertions aren’t new or groundbreaking for Blizzard, but they’re important and serve as a reminder of our commitment to delivering epic gameplay experiences. For us, it’s not just about creating awesome games, but about supporting those games and their communities for years to come. The upcoming launch of Overwatch on May 24 is in many ways just the beginning, and we’re doing all that we can to prepare for that milestone and (perhaps more importantly) what comes after—not just in terms of new game content, but also how we can ensure a fair and equitable play environment for everyone.