The new model of Overwatch 2 is based on our belief that the game should be played with friends. We’re truly excited to welcome many more players on 4 October. Even though it’s an exciting moment, we’re aware that the new model presents a new challenge in discouraging problematic behaviour in the game. We’re ready to face these challenges head-on with a new initiative we’ve called Defensive Matrix.
The Defensive Matrix collects all our infrastructure of systems designed to help protect the integrity of the game and promote positive attitudes toward Overwatch 2. This initiative is led by a group of cross-functional teams from across Blizzard, who have defined a series of goals that provide direction to our mission to ensure the best possible experience for Overwatch 2 players:
Define, develop and support programs that ensure a positive experience for all players.
Ensure competitive integrity at any level of play by identifying and swiftly removing cheaters and problematic players.
Create a safer community both inside and outside the game, adopting a firm stance against problematic players and allowing positive and constructive players to become standout figures within the community.
These core philosophies guide the Matrix Defensive team’s efforts to work together in strengthening Overwatch’s security and gameplay experience, so every hero can play in a safe and honest environment.
MOBILE NOTIFICATIONS
Your account security is important, and Mobile Notifications help us verify account ownership in case of an unexpected breach. Similarly, if a problematic player has been suspended or banned, Mobile Notifications will make it much harder for them to return to the game.
Mobile warnings are an important update regarding problematic players. This additional layer of security is a guaranteed solution across the entire industry to combat both cheaters and problematic players, further protecting your account from malicious individuals.
From 4 October 2022, all players across all platforms, including consoles, will need a phone number linked to their Battle.net account to launch Overwatch 2. The same phone number cannot be used on multiple accounts simultaneously, and players cannot use the same number to create multiple accounts. A phone number can be used only once during the creation of a new account, and certain types of numbers, such as prepaid cards or VoIP, cannot be used for Mobile Alerts.
Even if you already own the original Overwatch boxed version, you’ll still need to enable Mobile Alerts to play Overwatch 2.
SYSTEM DESIGN
Overwatch is a social game, with many spaces where players interact, communicate, and work together. All these spaces improve the player experience through gameplay dynamics and interaction, whether in Competitive mode, the Workshop, or Quick Play. As creators of Overwatch, we continuously monitor our game systems. As part of this process, we determined that some spaces did not meet our expectations and required certain improvements before the launch of Overwatch 2 and in the weeks following.
Machine learning and audio transcriptions
For years, our team has used machine learning to identify and prevent harmful behaviour, cheat usage and problematic chat. Our identification methods rely on various systems, including in-game reports, to detect behaviours that degrade the gaming experience. We are expanding our identification capabilities by introducing audio transcriptions in the weeks following launch.
Audio transcriptions allow us to temporarily record a player’s reported voice chat and automatically transcribe it into text using speech synthesis programs. The resulting text file is then analysed by our chat review tools to detect problematic behaviour. Once the audio has been transcribed into text, it is immediately deleted, as its sole purpose is to identify potentially inappropriate behaviour. The text file is then deleted no later than 30 days after the audio transcription.
The system relies on players reporting problematic behaviour as soon as it occurs in the game, since we do not retain voice chat data for long. This means you should report problematic behaviour as soon as it happens to give us the best chance of identifying, locating and preventing problematic player behaviour. Your reports are important. Reporting players is one of the most effective methods for identifying and acting on problematic behaviour as quickly as possible.
Experience for New Players
The New Player Experience (or EpNG) is being introduced for the first time in Overwatch 2 and was designed specifically for new players who create their account after the launch.
We want the New Player Experience to gradually introduce new players to Overwatch 2, as we have received a significant amount of feedback from new players who felt overwhelmed by the numerous game modes and heroes. New players will start with access to a selection of modes and heroes, and some other targeted restrictions aimed at gradually introducing them to the game. The first phase of the New Player Experience quickly unlocks all game modes and the ability to use in-game chat, while the second phase unlocks all Overwatch’s original heroes after, approximately, 100 matches. This new experience guides players into the Overwatch world, teaching them what to know about the different modes, the rules, and other aspects of the game in a gradual manner.
Many of the New Player Experience restrictions do not apply when playing with a group, so new players can join their friends at any time to play almost all modes. The only exception is Competitive mode, as players must first complete a series of specific challenges to access this game mode.
The requirements to enter Competitive mode have changed with Overwatch 2. We’ve removed the player levels, so new players must now win 50 Quick Games before unlocking Competitive mode. This way, new players can prepare for the higher expectations of the competitive world, while long-time players won’t feel discouraged by teammates with less experience. We’ll use the Competitive mode unlock process to assess new players’ skill levels, so we can optimise match pairings to ensure a great experience for everyone.
Beyond helping new players join the fun, this process is also an effective way to discourage problematic behaviour and cheating. The New Player Experience requires commitment to complete, as unlocking various modes takes time. Especially the Competitive mode is inaccessible unless you win matches. Problematic players cannot immediately impact the community, as features like voice chat and in-game chat unlock later during the New Player Experience. New accounts created by cheaters or problematic players must first go through this experience, giving us the opportunity to identify suspicious accounts before they enter other game modes.
The New Player Experience was designed to make Overwatch 2 a welcoming, accessible, and fun game for everyone who chooses to play it. This experience will apply only to accounts created on October 4 or later: anyone who has played before, as well as owners of the Observatory Pack, will not need to play the New Player Experience.
Praise
It’s fair to celebrate positive interactions, so the Praise will be optimised for Overwatch 2. There will be only one Praise category per match, instead of three different categories, and Praise can be given only to players in your own team. With this change, it will be easier for positive players to earn and maintain a high level of Praise.
Our goal is to ensure players receive the appropriate recognition and aspire to become positive forces within our community, and we intend to gift the Battle Pass experience to players with high levels of praise as a token of appreciation!
Introductory screen for Competitive Matches
As we mentioned previously, Overwatch 2 will no longer feature levels, and all earned experience will go into your Battle Pass! This means that character portraits symbolising player levels will disappear from all game modes in Overwatch 2, and skill levels in Competitive mode will no longer be displayed before every Competitive match. Players will have cards and titles that can be shown next to their in-game name and player icon. There are some reasons for this change: we discovered it was a problem for Competitive mode, as some players judged their teammates before the match even began, causing explicit or implicit bias.
We want this change to help players collaborate from the start, removing all forms of prejudice.
Ping System
The ping system is a new feature in Overwatch 2 that allows players to communicate with their team without using voice chat. This system improves communication by offering alternative ways to share information with the team. We also understand that some players do not want to participate in voice chat at all, and hope this system will be helpful for this type of player.
General chat
We have removed the general chat from the game menus because we realised it’s a zone where problematic behaviours frequently occur. The general chat has no productive purpose, and it was possible to remove it without compromising the game’s core mechanics. Other chats remain available to players.
TASK FORCE DELLA MATRICE DIFENSIVA
Interne
The internal Overwatch task force consists of a series of different roles drawn from various Blizzard teams. This includes engineers, designers, producers, researchers, data scientists, security analysts, just to mention a few. A type of honest and positive game is a goal for every group within our task force, and all have played a fundamental role in creating the Defensive Matrix.
We work as one team to conduct specialised investigations into cheats and reverse-engineer cheat software to understand how they work, how they hide, and how we can prevent them from ruining the experience for our players. These teams also perform in-depth analyses of player sociology to improve our investigations into problematic behaviours.
External
The Defensive Matrix task force is expanding beyond the Overwatch and Blizzard Entertainment team. Our external task force includes a series of collaborations across the entire Activision Blizzard King ecosystem, including outside partners. Overwatch has been studied for problematic behaviours and cheaters across a range of franchises within the Activision Blizzard King universe. Additionally, we are working with external partners and third-party security experts who design anti-tampering, anti-cheat, and reverse engineering systems.
We have also taken a clear stance regarding the promotion of positive attitudes and the removal of problematic players. Blizzard is a founding member of the Fair Play Alliance, a global coalition that invites people in the gaming industry to share guidelines, knowledge, and tools to create honest and inclusive spaces within the gaming world. We work together with developers worldwide on how to approach the prevention and punishment of problematic behaviour, and how to reward and encourage positivity on Overwatch 2, as well as on other Blizzard games.
We’re increasing our APM for Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 gives us the opportunity to continue improving and re-evaluating our systems to combat problematic behaviour and cheating in ways that wouldn’t be sufficient with a simple update. Mobile warnings will make all players’ accounts safer and prevent banned players from creating new accounts to further ruin others’ experience. Our chat tools have been updated to immediately identify problematic behaviour, and audio transcripts will allow the team to take action regarding violent voice chats. Anti-cheat protocols are expanding to enable us to identify, counter and prevent cheating in Overwatch 2, and all these changes will be active from the game’s launch on 4 October.
The Defensive Matrix is an important point in our plans to combat cheating and destructive behaviour on Overwatch 2. As the game grows, so too will our efforts to keep Overwatch healthy in the long term. We will continuously work to improve and expand our Defensive Matrix, to ensure Overwatch 2 remains a fun, fair and safe game for everyone.
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