Blizzard Entertainment has announced that it will restrict console players from using unapproved peripherals in Overwatch 2, including the mouse and keyboard.
In its latest news update, Blizzard Entertainment has revealed that it will begin restricting console players from using unapproved peripherals, such as mouse and keyboard, in Overwatch 2. Beginning from Season 11, players who are detected using such devices on a console will be dealt with in two phases.
Popular cheat devices such as XIM allow console players to use a mouse and keyboard and exploit controller aim assist by tricking the system into thinking that their inputs are coming from a controller. Such devices have now been deemed as “unapproved peripherals” by Blizzard Entertainment in an effort to achieve a competitive, level playing field multiplayer environment in Overwatch 2.
While Senior game producer Adam Massey and lead gameplay engineer Daniel Razza didn’t share the specifics regarding detection process, they did reveal that it has already been in place for multiple seasons, passively gathering data for the development team to analyze. Now that enough data has been gathered, the team is ready to take action against culprits in 2 phases.
In the first phase, upon detection, a user of unapproved peripherals in the console version of Overwatch 2 will be restricted from Competitive for one week. They will still have access to Quick Play during this time, and if they cease using the unapproved peripheral, the restriction will eventually expire, and they will eventually be able to resume playing Competitive.
However, if the use of the unapproved peripheral resumes, not only will the player be restricted from Competitive on console, they will be forced to play with other mouse and keyboard players when playing in Quick Play throughout the season. Additionally, these players will no longer have access to the aim-assist feature. As such, they will be able to continue playing Overwatch 2 against players who use a control setup similar to their own.
