Blizzard has responded to complaints regarding a group of Overwatch match throwers, who force players to take part in a puzzle mimicking the Saw horror series before intentionally causing them to lose their matches.
Throwing is a big problem in Overwatch, particularly among the game’s console player base, with some players intentionally losing matches in order to troll their teammates. While this is irritating in and of itself, this particular throwing “community” takes it to the next level by first reaching Diamond — the third highest-rated rank in the game’s competitive mode — and then throwing their matches, affecting their teammates’ scores in the process.
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Considering the many hours that Overwatch players plug into the game in order to obtain these scores, it’s no wonder that those who have encountered this group have escalated the problem with Blizzard, flagging the players on the popular Overwatch subreddit. Reddit user destinypainter revealed how he had been teamed with one of these players on the PS4 version of the game, with him throwing two consecutive matches after first asking players to take part in a “puzzle” in which he played an automated message similar to the Saw movies.
The “puzzle” required one member of the team to leave the game, in order for the player to choose not to throw their game. According to destinypainter, when the other players refused to comply, the thrower would then either block their door with an ice barrier using Mei, or choose Mercy and then repeatedly die without healing their team.
An audio clip of the player can be heard below:
After users began notifying Blizzard of the players’ actions, Community Manager Zoevia reported that the company was looking into it. “We’re investigating this and will take appropriate action matching the seriousness of this offense,” she wrote.
It’s unclear how Blizzard bans to punish the throwers, but back in June Game Director Jeff Kaplan revealed that Blizzard were raising the level of punishment for this kind of behavior, meaning that these players could be looking at temporary or permanent bans for their accounts. Blizzard has yet to provide an update on the course of action they are set to pursue.
