Overwatch 2 ban wave hits thousands of cheaters as hacker POTGs go viral

Thousands of Overwatch 2 cheaters have been purged in a major ban wave as players grow increasingly concerned about the threat of hackers in their games.

Overwatch 2 has had a very rollercoaster launch thus far. After a rocky debut with DDoS attacks and controversial phone verification requirements that have since been updated, the hero shooter bounced back to record-high player counts.

The highlights didn’t last long, however, as issues with expensive skins costing upwards of $20, ranked matchmaking issues and even hackers have resulted in more unwanted controversy for the sequel, but Blizzard has taken some action.

In a new report on the Korean Overwatch forums, Blizzard revealed that thousands of cheaters had been banned from the game in the first wave since the game’s launch.

Overwatch 2 cheaters purged in hacker crackdown

In total, a whopping 3,486 accounts were banned on October 26 for using programs not authorized by Blizzard.

The cheater problem has proven to be a big issue in games such as Call of Duty over the years and with OW2 being free-to-play, some have feared that a similar fate may befall Overwatch.

The SMS verification was an attempt by Blizzard to prevent potential cheaters from making new accounts by having a phone number tied to each, but backlash to the system pushed the developers to backtrack.

Streamers have documented a growing number of cheaters in their games, oftentimes sarcastically joking about how new players have the “best aim.”

In these two viral clips, the hackers get Play of the Game, but in the process showcase an aim bot locking onto targets. Amusingly, the Soldier 76 cheater didn’t even know how to use a Symmetra Teleporter originally and instead performed a melee.

Past job listings have indicated that the developers do plan on implementing an anti-cheat at some point, but for now, the best players can do is report those they suspect of hacking and hope they will be dealt with.