Overwatch’s inactivity system is much more unforgiving after the September 7 Overwatch update, now kicking players for just being in spawn. However, Blizzard says they’re aware of the issue.
After the September 7 Overwatch patch players began noticing that the game’s inactivity system, which kicks players who go AFK for too long, was being especially unforgiving.
Following the change, players were being kicked for inactivity by just being in the spawn room, even if they are still moving around and shooting. Dexerto can confirm we were experiencing the same thing while playing after the update as well.
In a post on the official Overwatch forums that Blizzard has responded to, player ‘Lore’ described just how the system seems to think everyone in spawn is automatically AFK.
“Now as long as you stay in spawn you will keep getting kicked even if you’re moving and shooting,” they explained. “Which led to many games today where I was either spawn camping or getting spawn camped with the stomped team players getting kicked from the game multiple times just for not being able to leave base because of the spawn camp.”
Like Lore pointed out, this problem with the timer becomes super apparent on King of the Hill maps, where teams can often push opposing players all the way back to spawn.
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
It would be incredibly difficult to actually push out of spawn, if you can’t actually stay in the room without risking being kicked. Luckily, it does seem Blizzard are aware of the issue, and are working to fix it.
In a response roughly a day after Lore initially posted about the bug, Overwatch community manager AndyB said that Blizzard was “aware of this issue and are working towards a solution.”
Unfortunately, there’s no telling when this issue will be fixed. So, for now, just be sure to not spend too much time in spawn, and try to avoid getting spawn-camped yourself until this issue gets taken care of.
