In a recent stream on Twitch, Tyler1 hilariously rediscovered a longstanding Overwatch chat squelch that remains in effect with the release of Overwatch 2. The launch of Overwatch 2 has drawn many back to the franchise after years of being away due to a lack of content updates and general low energy within the Overwatch community. Excitement has returned, however, with millions playing Overwatch 2 and tens of thousands watching on Twitch. Tyler1's capitalizing on the hype, but his history with Overwatch caught up with him.
Even going back to the original Overwatch, Blizzard has taken a relatively aggressive stance regarding in-game harassment. Using in-game voice chat or text chat to insult or harass other players leads not only to bans from the game, but also extended bans from communication channels. Overwatch 2 has improved systems for detecting harassment and abuse, including carrying over punishments from Overwatch so past bad actors don't get to start over with a blank slate.
In the Twitch clip, taken from a Blizzard-sponsored stream, Tyler1 is shown queuing for an Overwatch 2 match and noticing a system in their text chat. They quickly question whether or not they're still queued, perhaps wondering if they received an error that removed them from matchmaking. Instead, they see a system message confirming that they're "silenced for 1812 days due to multiple reports of abusive chat from other players." 1812 days is just short of five total years.
Tyler1, known for his explosive reactions, first acts shocked to see he remains squelched in Overwatch 2's chat all these years later. He quickly recomposes himself and acknowledges that Blizzard's silencing of his account was the correct decision. "I'm still silenced. That's fine. I deserved it," is what Tyler1 tells his Twitch chat, even shifting an Overwatch 2 stream overlay to the side so that his viewers could read the system message confirming his chat ban.
While Tyler1 doesn't delve into his past behavior playing Overwatch, it's well known that the Twitch streamer has a sordid past in which he frequently insulted his teammates. Tyler1 has previously characterized what he said as "****talk." When Overwatch first launched, Tyler1 had just been banned from League of Legends for similar behavior. Blizzard, knowing the Twitch streamer's reputation, quickly dropped a 10-year squelch on his account without actually banning him from playing.
Attentive Tyler1 fans may notice that a 10-year squelch delivered in 2016, when Overwatch launched, should have just 4 years left rather than 5. In 2018, around 8 months after the ban, Blizzard removed and then re-enabled squelched across all accounts. The 10-year squelch was restarted at that point. That's why Tyler1 still has 5 years left on his chat ban. Perhaps he'll be cleared by the time Overwatch 3 launches.
Overwatch 2 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.