With Overwatch being such a massive online community, the game is always bound to get a few cheaters here and there. The latest problem involves players who purposely lose in matches to get lower ranks during competitive play. Blizzard has decided to comment on those players, and they are finding a way to go around the loophole.
Jeff Kaplan Comments This Is "Not Acceptable"
According to the Battle Net forums, Jeff Kaplan has spoken out about this problem. He writes, "We are strongly opposed to this behavior and working on a policy to make it consistently actionable and detectable. Even if you are in a six-person team, intentionally losing to lower your skill rating is not acceptable."
As of now, there isn't any way for the developers to find out if players are actually losing in purpose, but gamers can always use the reporting system to tell on anyone who is acting a bit fishy. The reporting system is also set to come to consoles soon, so the cheaters on Xbox One and PS4 better watch out.
Why Is Deranking Bad?
Some are maybe confused as to why some players would choose to derank themselves on purpose, but it's actually a trick that master players do in order to be paired up with players of a lower skill level during matches. With all the players being of a lower tier, the deranked player can now dominate games without any of the competition.
Some have also guessed that players choose to derank because they want to play with friends in lower skill levels, or simply because they want to troll the team. Either way, somebody will be pissed off. Hopefully Blizzard will find a way around the players that derank themselves on purpose, but as of now, players can just stick to reporting anyone who they suspect of cheating. Overwatch is currently playable for PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
