As the beta for Overwatch 2 approaches, popular Twitch streamer and former OWL pro Daniel ‘Dafran‘ Francesca has players demanding consequences for smurfing.
Since the beginning of ranked play in Overwatch, smurfing has been a major issue. Players can easily dominate certain ranks by creating a new account and intentionally placing lower than their actual skill level.
This results in uninteresting games and completely messes up matchmaking. It’s an even bigger problem on consoles, where players can make new accounts without having to buy a new copy of the game, as is the case on PC.
With the Overwatch 2 beta set to begin on April 26th, players, including a reformed Dafran, are urging Blizzard to address the smurfing issue.
The Danish DPS guru pleaded with the developers to take action against smurfs in a social media thread. Despite his demands, fans quickly pointed out that Francesca had previously been accused of smurfing, citing his participation in unranked to Top 500 challenges, in which he annihilated lower-ranked players.
Nonetheless, his words struck a chord with many, and a Reddit thread sprung up with players echoing his sentiments.
Others thought that linking phone numbers to accounts would be a good way to keep players to just one account, but it’s unclear whether Blizzard will do so in the sequel.
We’ll have to wait and see what Blizzard has in store for the Overwatch 2 beta, which starts on April 26. We’ll also have to see if the team has any plans to combat smurfing in the future.
