Overwatch players playing on Linux have reported incidents of getting banned by Blizzard for no reason. The dialogue surrounding this detailed that the problem seemed to be rooted in the WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) compatibility tool known as DXVK. This tool works in tandem with WINE in order to convert Windows applications into something compatible with Linux, macOS, and BSD. This guide will outline exactly what the Overwatch Linux Ban is.
Overwatch Linux Ban: Why Are Overwatch Players Being Banned on Linux?
A Reddit post by IngeniousDox started the dialogue about the ban. In the post, they mentioned that they had been banned by Blizzard, and had received the following message:
“Account Action: Account Closure – Overwatch Account Offense: Unauthorized Cheat Programs (“hacks”)
Recent activity on this account shows the use of an unauthorized cheat program, also known as a “hack”, which harms the intended player experience.”
A Forbes report on the matter has drawn attention to how popular gaming on Linux has become in recent months, mentioning Valve’s release of the “Proton” addition to Steam Play, which gives Linux users access to Steam. With the Linux gaming community expanding at a rapid rate, this issue is something of great importance for the posterity of the community.
As of now, IngeniousDox has edited their post several times. The first edits detail reports from other users who have experienced similar difficulties. The most recent addition to the post includes the first response from Blizzard, which reads as follows:
“Sorry to hear that your account has been banned!
I’m going to escalate your ticket so our team can take a closer look, and hopefully overturn the ban and give you some feedback so we can avoid this happening to other Linux users.”
Hopefully, this will be rectified soon. Although the initial guess as to the cause was to do with using DXVK’s Async option, which improves the rendering of games while reducing stuttering. However, users have since reported that they were not using this option, which means that as of now, there is no conclusive evidence supporting any reason as to why this is happening. For now, all that can be done is to wait for Blizzard to remedy the problem.
