Players of Blizzard's insanely popular online, first-person, team shooter Overwatch recently started noticing some accounts being banned for an entire season of competitive play for apparently no reason, and with no history of previous delinquent behaviour such as leaving matches early or going AFK in the middle of a match. Affected players' skill ratings were also being reset.
It was initially not entirely clear if these bans were the result of a bug or justified responses to some unperceived sleights by the players as only around 200 accounts were affected. Blizzard today confirmed that the bans were the result of a bug and that a fix is in the works. The company issued the following statement on the matter:
"We recently identified a bug that, in extremely rare cases, can cause players to lose their skill rating progress and receive a seasonal ban from Competitive Play without any prior penalties for leaving early or being kicked for inactivity. This bug is a high priority for our team, and we're working on a fix to prevent further instances of it occurring as we speak.
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.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or frustration this bug has caused and are grateful for your patience and ongoing reports."
According to a Reddit discussion, the bug could be the result of leaving a match just as a match is being loaded so avoiding disconnections at that particular time could be a good way to spare your account. As the above statement says, though, if you are affected by the bug, your account will be restored to its former glory soon enough.
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