Blizzard is working on changes to Overwatch’s cheat detection system that will automatically end matches when the game detects that one of the participants is cheating.
Curbing cheats can be a constant battle for online games, especially for those as high-profile as Blizzard’s competitive shooter Overwatch, and this coming feature makes for a proactive way to deal with those using cheats in the online game.
The feature is already active in the game’s public test region (PTR), and Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan says that the system acts in a way that won’t punish rule-abiding players on either side of the match just because a single cheater caused a match to shut down.
The cheating player, however, will face “very harsh actions” against them once they’re found out.
Should the system work as intended, these changes to Overwatch’s automatic cheat detection would deal with cheaters before they have much of a chance to sour the game for players that routinely play by the rules. It’s also notably a quite different approach than the one recently announced by Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment, who aims to isolate known cheaters by ensuring they only play against other players that have been caught in the act.