There are a lot of things developers can control in their games, but if there is one thing that developers cannot control, especially when it comes to online multiplayer games, is the behavior of players. As much as Blizzard tries, Overwatch is no exception to that as the game is still plagued by toxic players just like any other online game.
In fact it seems that these toxic players aren’t just affecting other players of the game, but also the developers who are forced to dedicate time and resources to prevent/reduce such behavior, which ultimately has caused updates for the game to be released slower than Blizzard would like, or at least that’s what the company seems to be saying in a recent video.
In the latest developer update video, Overwatch’s director Jeff Kaplan was quoted as saying, “We want to make new maps, we want to make new heroes, we want to make animated shorts, but we’ve been put in this weird position where we’re spending a tremendous amount of time and resources punishing people and trying to make people behave better. I wish we could take the time we put into having reporting on console and have put that toward a match history system or a replay system instead.”
He adds, “It was the exact same people that had to work on both, who got re-routed to work on the other. The bad behavior is not just ruining the experience for one another, but the bad behavior’s also making the game progress—in terms of development—at a much slower rate.” It is unfortunate although completely understandable, but unless players around the world collectively agree to stop exhibiting such behavior, we reckon it is going to be an uphill battle for Blizzard (and any other developer).