Blizzard breaks silence about major Overwatch 2 bug that bans players

The devs suggested a bizarre way to avoid the "Applying Update" bug.

Screengrab via Overwatch on YouTube

Blizzard has finally addressed the “Applying Update” bug in OW2 that has led to countless temporary account suspensions. It’s an issue that has plagued Overwatch 2 for a little while now, and it’s infuriating for players who are just looking to crank out some ranked matches.

Recommended Videos

But the advice the devs gave today isn’t exactly what players are looking for. With a post to the Blizzard Support website, the developer effectively admitted it doesn’t yet have a solution for issues surrounding the problem that has kept players from loading into competitive matches, resulting in suspensions from comp games.

Related: Blizzard banned over 100,000 cheaters since Overwatch 2 released

“We are aware that some players may receive the message ‘Applying Update’ when joining a competitive game,” Blizzard said. “This can sometimes trigger a leaver’s penalty, which may also occasionally lead to a competitive suspension. While our Overwatch 2 developers are investigating, we recommend that players enter the training mode prior to queueing for any game mode, every time they login. Customer Service is not able to overturn these penalties and any player affected will need to wait for them to expire.”

The only potential solution that Blizzard seemed to have for players as they look for a way to fix the issue on their end is to start every play session by entering the training mode. The post didn’t explain exactly how or why that prevents the bug from happening, but it did make it clear that the issue is a Blizzard problem and not a player problem.

It’s unclear how long it will take for Blizzard to resolve this “Applying Update” bug, but in the meantime, it looks like there’s a relatively simple solution for players who want to make sure they avoid any temporary bans, even if it’s mildly annoying to do so.

Author
Image of Max Miceli
Max Miceli
Senior Staff Writer. Max graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a journalism and political science degree in 2015. He previously worked for The Esports Observer covering the streaming industry before joining Dot where he now helps with Overwatch 2 coverage.