Ahead of Overwatch 2’s highly-anticipated launch on October 4th, Activision Blizzard announced something called the Defense Matrix Initiative; a brand-new system that’s included in the game to preserve a safe environment for players both in-game and out. Boasting a host of features such as SMS protection, first-time user experience measures, and even additional safety parameters in-game to protect players from disruptive behavior.
With Overwatch 2 going free-to-play, Activision Blizzard is seemingly anticipating an influx of what it calls “disruptive behavior” that comes with the bigger base of players new to the franchise making their entrance. Because it’s free to play, anyone can get their hands on the game, so Activision Blizzard is taking the rules very seriously this time around, connecting players’ accounts to their cell phone numbers and even going as far as to record voice chat.
But we’ve already talked about why they’re tying players’ phone numbers to their accounts in another article, so let’s talk about why Overwatch 2 is going to be recording voice chat because it’s really important.
Why is Overwatch 2 Recording Voice Chat?
An important part of Overwatch 2’s multiplayer experience is going to be the machine learning and audio transcriptions aspect of the Defense Matrix Initiative. This is across the board, covering every inch of the game’s multiplayer from Competitive, all the way down to Workshop. But what is it and why does this voice recording software exist in Overwatch 2?
When it comes to the question of why Overwatch 2 is recording voice chat, you don’t really have anything to worry about, unless you’re guilty of something that breaks the game’s rules. For years Activision Blizzard has actually used machine learning software to detect disruptive behavior, cheating, and disruptive text chat to weed out the troublemaker players.
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So with Overwatch 2, Activision Blizzard is implementing their audio transcription software which grabs a temporary voice chat recording that includes the player that’s been reported by another. It will automatically transcribe that voice chat to text for the machine to determine if the reported player is indeed guilty of breaking any rules.
Once transcribed to text, the audio recording is deleted within 30 days of it being transcribed. Its sole purpose for using it is to help in weeding out players that really don’t belong in the Overwatch 2 community. Activision Blizzard has also made it a point to stress that players should report others for disruptive behavior and to do it the instant it happens so that these systems have a better chance of dealing with the guilty player.
Though some may think this is an invasion of privacy, this will help to ensure that the Overwatch 2 community is fun and welcoming for both old and new players alike. So long as Activision Blizzard indeed deletes these recordings, there’s no real reason why one should worry about their privacy, especially if they’re a good, contributing member of the community.
Be sure to check out our additional coverage of Overwatch 2 ahead of its release!
