Overwatch: Blizzard Doesn't Mess Around When It Comes to Banning Cheaters

Overwatch released last week, and already Blizzard has banned a surprisingly large number of players. More than 1500 in China have been kicked out permanently, and players have posted on popular hacking forums that they can't trick Blizzard's cheat detection.

The 1572 banned players in China were called out by username on Blizzard's forums, and PC Gamer has posted screenshots of Western websites full of forum posts that detail cheaters' failed attempts at playing the game with hacks. One player claimed they were banned, and after re-buying the game and playing fairly for a couple days, they were banned again--the software they had used previously was likely detected on their PC.

After going through a process of changing their MAC address, processor ID data, and other information, they tried again; however, they were banned once again without using any methods of cheating or hacking. The player notes that Blizzard "might have file(registry)marked" his computer, which means they'll likely have to reinstall the OS to get around it.

"So I guess I need to say goodbye to this game," they said. "I regret poking around d3d11 [wallhack] during the beta."

Blizzard takes cheating seriously, as evidenced by one one person who posted a screenshot of an account closure email they received from the developer.

"We don't take this decision lightly," the email reads. "Our team issued this closure after a careful review of relevant evidence. Our support staff will not overturn these closures and may not respond to appeals."

You can see all of the screenshots over on PC Gamer.

The lesson here seems to be that you shouldn't cheat--not even once. Hopefully you already knew that.

You can check out more of GameSpot's Overwatch coverage through the links below:

• Overwatch Review
• Opening 50 Loot Boxes
• Character Guide: How to Master Each Hero
• Overwatch's Hit Marker Sound Effect Comes From Beer
• Overwatch Myths Confirmed and Busted in New Video
• See More Myths Tested in New Fan Video