Blizzard is fixing 'Overwatch' bug that bans innocent players

If you find yourself slapped with a season ban on Overwatch even though you did nothing wrong, don't worry -- it's a bug and Blizzard is on it. A rare Overwatch bug has affected around 200 accounts, eating up the skill ratings they earned and banning them from Competitive Play for the entire season despite having no history of leaving matches early or being kicked due to inactivity. According to a post on Reddit, the bug could be triggered by someone leaving right as a competitive match is loading. The screen gets stuck on the "waiting for players" state and any attempt to load a match after that fails.

At first, it was difficult to confirm if it was truly a bug since relatively few people got affected, but Blizzard has admitted in a statement that the issue exists. The developer promises fixing the bug is the team's priority at the moment, but it can't say when it can roll out a fix. It assures everyone, however, that it will lift affected players' seasonal bans so they don't contribute to the possibility of a permaban and will also restore people's skill ratings. It'll obviously be a hassle to get the issue fixed if it ends up affecting you, but at least you won't have to worry about not being able to play this season at all.