Blizzard will automatically end Overwatch matches if it detects cheating

Blizzard is to begin automatically ending Overwatch matches if it detects cheating.

In a developer update video (above), game director Jeff Kaplan revealed the studio has already implemented “the next evolution of cheat detection” in its public test realm.

“We have improved detection for cheating and we will now automatically shut down a match where we detect cheating is happening,” he said.

Kaplan claimed “very harsh actions” will be carried out against cheating players, but said nobody else “on either side of the match is penalised for that match being shut down”, meaning players who’ve done nothing wrong won’t lose any skill rating.

He also commented on plans for Overwatch‘s next hero. “If some of you have tracked us over the years, what we release and when, you’re probably anticipating a hero release some time very soon.

“Well don’t worry, we are working on a hero. Hero No.31 is going to be awesome, but he is going to be released a little bit later than you’re used to, but he’ll be here soon enough, and we think a little bit of extra time is going to make the hero even more awesome.”

Blizzard president J. Allen Brack said in May the studio’s looking into the possibility of expanding the Overwatch universe with new games, while noting that the company has more titles in development that at any point in its near 30-year history.

It was reported last month that Blizzard had cancelled a StarCraft shooter in order to invest more resources in other projects, namely Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4.