Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan has issued a harsh warning for players who are “throwing” during a live stream with popular Twitch streamer Brandon ‘Seagull’ Larned.
Like many of the popular games with ranked playlists, Overwatch also has its fair share of players who can make the game a nightmare for others who trying to climb their way to high-elo.
Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan is intent on making the game as enjoyable as possible for fans of competitive, after issuing a warning on July 18 for players who are found to be “deliberately throwing.”
Former Overwatch pro Seagull was joined by Kaplan for a special stream at the Blizzard Headquarters, which saw the Overwatch Director addressing one of the biggest issues many players had encountered.
When discussing the topic of players throwing during games, Kaplan revealed that the issue was one that the team at Blizzard had been monitoring closely, and claimed that they were ready to start taking action, issuing a warning to players that they were at risk of being severely punished.
“We have lots of ways of knowing if you’re doing what you shouldn’t be doing” Kaplan revealed, before warning, “we actually have a full group ready to go to very actively and aggressively take action on people who are deliberately throwing outside of their role.”
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Although it was unclear what exactly the punishment would be each infraction, Kaplan may have hinted that players could be receiving suspensions from the game mode, adding, “Everyone’s been warned, the ban hammer is prepped on this one because we’re not dumb and we know what certain player behaviors are going to be.”
The Blizzard VP followed up with more praise for their statistical team claiming that they have “a lot in place” to deal with players who go out of their way to try ruining the game for other players.
It is unknown when the first few waves of punishments will come into effect for players who are found to be deliberately throwing, although many fans of the game are looking forward to hopefully a more enjoyable experience.