Overwatch player disqualified from Breakable Barriers for cheating

The Overwatch League Path to Pro hosted its first Open Division event named Breakable Barriers during the weekend of Dec. 14 – 15. The event series consists of former Overwatch League players and streamers, along with those in Contenders and Open Division competing from different regions. Yo Yes finished in first place in North America and British Hurricane in the European region the first week. Each team took home a $1,200 prize for it. However, since any player could form a team to participate, it looks like one player this past week attempted to gain an edge by cheating using third-party software.

https://twitter.com/Valentine_OW/status/1208629855694282752?s=20

Player “WoW” banned for cheating

Tournament administrators disqualified Team Minions on the Flank. The team showed great performance during the event, with players like Montreal Rebellion support Benjamin “UltraViolet” David on the roster. Many had a history in Path to Pro, whether in Overwatch Contenders or the amateur scene. However, a clip of alleged aim lock surfaced during the tournament, which showed a player named WoW who did not have the same experience as other players.

Breakable Barriers disqualification

No official statement was given by the Breakable Barriers staff, but competitor ValentineOW stated that Blizzard had manually investigated the DPS player named WoW. He also stated that his team had been disqualified due to his cheating. The player in question cannot be seen on the leaderboards anymore, which basically confirms that he was banned. 

The clip shows that the player in question was able to see enemies from behind walls — a cheat most commonly abused in games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In addition, it seemed the user was using aim lock, which enabled him to “lock on” to opponents.

While the team decided to bench the player after initial cheating accusations, they were still disqualified from the event. Nevertheless, they cannot be blamed as it only seems like a simple mistake of trusting the wrong player.