Huge Overwatch ban wave wipes out thousands of cheaters in August update

In a continuous effort to drown out cheaters in Overwatch, Blizzard has announced another huge ban wave that struck down more than 18,000 suspicious accounts.

While Overwatch may be into its sixth year on the market, that doesn’t mean the multiplayer experience is flawless just yet. As with most major multiplayer titles, the issue of cheating runs rampant in Blizzard’s popular hero shooter.

While the developers have outlined plans to stamp down smurf accounts in the long run, pesky hackers continue to be a problem. Before we get to Overwatch 2, however, a more dedicated effort has been made to minimize the cheating crisis.

After 10,000 accounts were banned earlier in 2021, Blizzard has now revealed thousands more Overwatch players have been barred from the title.

Since the initial cheating update in May, Blizzard has actively been shutting down hackers in Overwatch. Over the past three months, 24,003 accounts have been shut down in total.

Following on from this collective effort, another considerable ban wave was sent out on August 24. This single strike knocked down another 18,003 troublesome accounts.

“This is all part of our ongoing commitment to anti-cheat efforts,” Overwatch Community Manager AndyB said.

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Evidently, the in-game report function appears to have led to many of these recent bans.

“Please continue to use the report feature in-game,” the dev stressed.

While a lack of fresh content has the Overwatch community frustrated of late, the continuous banwaves should keep the remaining player base that little bit safer online.

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With more and more malicious hacks appearing in recent updates, there’s no better time for Blizzard to clamp down on the cheating issue.