Blizzard is Serious about Stopping Cheaters in Overwatch

... Unless you're a cheater.

We reported just a few minutes ago, actually, that Overwatch is a big deal right now. Over 7 million people own the game and have logged in a couple dozen lifetime's worth of game time in the week that it's been out. So people like it a whole lot, which is great, but the thing is, Blizzard has, historically, had a huge problem with cheaters. Almost all of their most recent games have competitive or multiplayer-heavy components, so it's a huge deal when someone cheats... and boy, do they ever. Overwatch, of course, being a competitive FPS, is going to have no shortage of people who think they can get away with cheating, either with bots, mods, or other sneaky tricks.

But Blizzard is having none of it. No, sir, if they were more relaxed with Starcraft and World of Warcraft, with Overwatch, they're taking the anti-cheating methods up to 11. Zero tolerance, no forgiveness, once you're caught, you're done.

How serious are they? According to PC Gamer, not only are people who are caught cheating banned from Overwatch--they're banned from online play for ALL of Blizzard's games. What's more, even if you purchase another copy of Overwatch after you've been banned--you're going to get immediately banned AGAIN. So once you've used your one strike, you're not getting another.

And you know Blizzard is just way too excited, because already they've banned a thousand accounts--whose usernames have actually been released to the public. So if you remember the name of a suspiciously good Mei and you want to know if she was cheating, well, now you have a way to find out.

Blizzard reinstated that it will not overturn closures, and it may choose to even ignore repeals, so, if you were thinking about cheating on Overwatch, here's a hint: don't .

Or cheat on your friend's account. That's always viable.