For all of its popularity, Overwatch is not a perfect game. Just like every other multiplayer game enjoyed by millions, its players often discover bugs and glitches that can make playing it a lesser experience. But one major Overwatch issue isn't just annoying, as it completely breaks the game.
According to players on social media and on the game's official forums, the Overwatch Numbani map appears to suffer from some sort of game-breaking exploit. Called the "Match Reset" or the "Infinite Loop" bug, players have reported that when playing on Numbani the game will crash before coming up with an error message that reads, "The server closed due to an unexpected error."
The game will then restart and put the entire team on the other side (attackers become defenders and vice versa) and then as soon as the first fight breaks out, the game restarts again. The loop may then continue until every player is kicked from the server (classing everyone as an early leaver) or until the game kicks the match to another map that isn't Numbani. The closed server error message is consistent with what happens when exploits are used on other maps, but it's unclear whether there is just a standard bug with Numbani or if players are abusing an exploit on the map.
[HTML1]
What's clear though, is that players are incredibly frustrated with the situation and say that it is completely ruining the Overwatch experience for them. Affecting players on PC and PS4 (it is unknown if it affects Xbox One players), the issue can result in people being kicked from their competitive matches, which results in a massive SR penalty and some have even reported being banned. Even pro players have been affected, with Cloud9's Mendokusaii experiencing the problem in the middle of a stream, as demonstrated in the Twitch clip above.
From the major issues that plagued Lucioball to issues with the game's cosmetics, when Blizzard is aware of a serious problem with its game, the company generally seems quite quick to fix it. But the Numbani problem was first reported on PS4 all the way back in June according to one forum post, and some are wondering why Blizzard hasn't addressed it up to this point. Players are also made furious by the fact that a new Overwatch map is about to be revealed while this game-breaking problem hasn't been fixed.
An estimate time for a solution isn't available yet. Though, with fans spreading the message like wildfire in the hopes of getting Blizzard's attention and encouraging fellow players to avoid competitive for the time being, it may not be long until the developer takes notice.
Overwatch is out now on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
