New Overwatch Bug is Unfairly Banning Players, Director Jeff Kaplan Responds

The most recent bug to hit Blizzard's hit FPS could cost players their SR rating and get them accidentally banned! Players have been reporting that after disconnecting from Overwatch's competitive play, they find themselves stuck in this repetitive loop screen while "waiting for players". Realising that something was wrong, many players would then force quit and attempt to restart a match resulting in a lowered SR rating and even false bans.

In a recent reddit post, one user even provided screenshots after suffering an incorrect drop:

In his original post, he had this to say about his experience with the bug:

"Basically, it seems to happen if someone leaves right as the competitive match is loading or something. The match goes into a 'waiting for players' state, odd for competitive. The match tries to start, fails, and returns to 'waiting for players' with the same players and repeats. Folks who have seen this bug lose HUNDREDS of SR, and, most importantly, get season banned immediately, even with no prior disconnects. Seems like it affects everyone in the match, but I can't confirm."

Immediately upon posting, many fellow Overwatch players chimed in with their own hits which prompted swift action from the Blizzard hero, Overwatch's director Jeff Kaplan:

"In the meantime, we'll be removing the seasonal ban for all players affected by this bug as well as restoring their skill rating. To date, this bug has impacted fewer than 200 accounts, but we'll continue to monitor for additional occurrences and provide assistance until we can implement a permanent fix. We don't have an ETA to share right now for when the fix will go live, but we'll update this thread as soon more information becomes available."

Luckily, Kap and the crew are always on standby when things like this occur. One thing that can be said for this growing community, is that the team works hard to keep its players happy. Whether it be new modes, maps, heroes, or other media; the support from the team surrounding their beloved shooter is admirable.

Overwatch is currently available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.