{"id":2033,"date":"2025-09-02T15:35:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T15:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/?p=2033"},"modified":"2025-09-17T15:16:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T15:16:19","slug":"blizzard-bans-1m-accounts-for-cheating-since-overwatch-2-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/02\/blizzard-bans-1m-accounts-for-cheating-since-overwatch-2-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Blizzard bans 1m accounts for cheating since Overwatch 2 launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"534\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Overwatch 2 damage hero Freja fighting in Junker Town map\" class=\"wp-image-205454 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Overwatch-2-one-million-cheating-bans-large.webp\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div id=\"esi-paragraph-68cad041c0b52\" class=\"esi-paragraph \">\n<p><strong>Blizzard Entertainment<\/strong> has shared that in its efforts to keep <strong>Overwatch 2<\/strong> fair, it has banned <a href=\"https:\/\/overwatch.blizzard.com\/en-us\/news\/24223576\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">over 1m accounts<\/a> for cheating since the hero shooter launched back in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"esi-paragraph-68cad041c1372\" class=\"esi-paragraph \">\n<p>The milestone was reached in part by reviewing over 23,000 accounts playing with unauthorised third-party peripherals. Following this achievement, Blizzard has launched new tech in <a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/overwatch-2-season-18-battle-pass-rewards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Season 18<\/a> to further safeguard the game\u2019s competitiveness. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"keep-reading \" id=\"kr-68cad041c2383\">\n<div class=\"heading section__title \"><span>Keep Reading<\/span><\/div>\n<ul class=\"d-flex flex-column\">\n<li id=\"post-204632\"><a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2025\/08\/how-good-is-luka-doncic-at-overwatch-2\">How good is Luka Don\u010di\u0107 at Overwatch 2?<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"post-200073\"><a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2025\/08\/overwatch-collegiate-returns-with-nace-partnership\">Overwatch Collegiate returns with NACE partnership<\/a><\/li>\n<li id=\"post-199718\"><a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2025\/08\/owcs-world-finals-2025-dreamhack-november\">OWCS World Finals 2025 heads to DreamHack in November<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"esi-paragraph-68cad041c352d\" class=\"esi-paragraph \">\n<p>Blizzard added that the 23,000 users it took action against either used unapproved peripherals, such as using a mouse and keyboard on console pools, otherwise known as ximming, or were grouped with a cheater.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"esi-heading-68cad041c3c04\" class=\"esi-heading \">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span id=\"changes_in_season_18-2\">Changes in Season 18<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"esi-paragraph-68cad041c426a\" class=\"esi-paragraph \">\n<p>The figures were shared alongside the announcement of new changes coming to Season 18. For the first time in the game\u2019s lifespan, consoles received native mouse and keyboard support and controllers. In light of these changes, console players with mouse and keyboard were moved to PC, and player pools were renamed from PC &amp; consoles to controller &amp; mouse and keyboard. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"esi-paragraph-68cad041c4912\" class=\"esi-paragraph \">\n<p>As such, Blizzard Entertainment promises to deal out \u2018harsher consequences\u2019 to players using unapproved <a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2025\/06\/how-important-are-peripherals-in-esports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">peripherals<\/a>. In the new season, accounts will be banned regardless of rank or mode if caught cheating. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"esi-paragraph-68cad041c4f9c\" class=\"esi-paragraph \">\n<p>However, cheating in Overwatch 2 extends beyond peripherals. Out of the 1m accounts banned, Blizzard Entertainment notes cases including aim-bots, wallhacks, among other forms of cheating in the game. With the Season 18 update, <a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2025\/05\/overwatch-2-developers-form-a-union-for-better-working-conditions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Overwatch 2 developers<\/a> are now equipped to spot cheaters \u2018faster and with more reliability\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"esi-heading-68cad041c561d\" class=\"esi-heading \">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span id=\"how_these_changes_affect_esports-2\">How These Changes Affect Esports?<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"esi-paragraph-68cad041c5c84\" class=\"esi-paragraph \">\n<p>Overwatch 2 has a vast esports ecosystem, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2025\/07\/which-teams-have-qualified-for-owcs-stage-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Overwatch Champions Series<\/a> (OWCS), where the smallest decision can make a huge impact for professional rosters. Rolling out these changes will ensure that games are determined by skill and teamwork as opposed to technical advantages.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"esi-paragraph-68cad041c62c8\" class=\"esi-paragraph \">\n<p>However, <a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2024\/11\/overwatch-2-unveils-new-format-for-owcs-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">OWCS<\/a>, despite undergoing several changes over time, has always remained a PC exclusive event. Furthermore, even with mouse and keyboard support on consoles, the difference in the hardware\u2019s performance between the two platforms remains too great. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\/2025\/09\/blizzard-bans-1m-accounts-cheating-overwatch-2-launch\">Blizzard bans 1m accounts for cheating since Overwatch 2 launch<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/esportsinsider.com\">Esports Insider<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment has shared that in its efforts to keep Overwatch 2 fair, it has banned over 1m accounts for cheating since the hero shooter launched back in 2023. The milestone was reached in part by reviewing over 23,000 accounts playing with unauthorised third-party peripherals. Following this achievement, Blizzard has launched&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-overwatch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2033"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2036,"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2033\/revisions\/2036"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ballpeenhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}