Toxic Overwatch Players On Xbox One Will Have Voice Chat Disabled

Overwatch got a massive new patch today and it added a new map for everyone, Junkertown, and also introduced a series of character balance changes. That's not all, though, as the patch also made a pretty significant change on Xbox One specifically.

Players who have bad reputations on Xbox Live, those designated as "Avoid Me," will have their in-game voice chat disabled. However, these players will stay in the same matchmaking groups as everyone else. Blizzard didn't say if it's employing a similar approach on PS4.

"Players whose Xbox Live reputation has been downgraded to 'Avoid Me' will remain in the same matchmaking pool as other Overwatch players," Blizzard said. "However, they will no longer be able to use the in-game voice communication."

Presumably, this change is a result of Blizzard's attempts to stem the "rising tide of toxicity" in Overwatch. Last week, Overwatch game director spoke frankly about the toxicity issues with Overwatch and how it's a problem that Blizzard and players alike need to respond to. One of the things he said in the video--which has racked up more than 1.2 million views--is that Blizzard won't create "naughty pools" for offending players, and the patch notes for Xbox One released today bear that out. You can watch the full video here.

The level of toxicity in Overwatch is so extreme, Kaplan said, that Blizzard's development on the game itself has been slowed so the studio can respond to the issues. Kaplan also called on players to look inward and maybe hold their tongue next time they want to say something nasty to an anonymous person online.

For lots more on today's big Overwatch update, check out the stories below:

• Huge Overwatch Update Now Live With New Map And Mercy, D.Va Revamps
• Overwatch Update Adds Junkertown Map On PC, PS4, And Xbox One; Full Patch Notes Released