An Overwatch 2 player has been banned for the entire Season 4 due to a bug. Overwatch 2 has suffered from bugs since its release, causing players to experience a wide variety of situations. Although Blizzard continues to release patches for the game, new problems keep happening regularly.
Overwatch 2 has not escaped bugs in Season 4. In one of the most recent cases, an Overwatch 2 player randomly died in Telantis, the first community-created map. Although it was a game problem, the Overwatch 2 community ended up having fun with the unexpected situation. But Overwatch 2's bugs have not always resulted in laughter. In many cases Overwatch 2's bugs end up punishing players hard, diminishing the quality of the gaming experience.
Reddit user ytternoah revealed they were banned for the entire Season 4 in Competitive Play because of the "Applying Update bug." This bug has been causing problems in Overwatch 2 matchmaking since the game's launch and happens when a match queue pops. The player then gets stuck in the "Applying Update" screen, with the only solution being to restart the game. Because of this, Overwatch 2 gives a leaver penalty, resulting in a temporary ban, a significant rank penalty, and a loss in battle pass xp and xp gain. According to Overwatch 2 players, the "Applying Update bug" is not unique to the PC version, with other players besides ytternoah recently reporting the same issue.
In the comment section Blizzard Entertainment community manager Blizz_Craig said that the developers are trying to fix the problem. Blizz_Craig also said that the devs will need time to resolve any bans resulting from this bug. Although the community manager couldn't give an estimate of when Blizzard will fix the issue, Blizz_Craig offered a workaround. It consists of the player entering the Overwatch 2 Practice Range map whenever they log into the game. After successfully accessing the map, the player can then leave the map and queue for any game mode.
The frequent occurrence of bugs is one of several problems in Overwatch 2, adding to the pile of reasons that frustrate players. The reappearance of the "Applying Update bug" is particularly concerning, because a player receiving a season ban will prevent them from enjoying the content released for Overwatch 2. But as with other cases, Overwatch 2 players will need to wait for a fix to be released and hope the workaround works effectively whenever it comes.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.