I love the thrill of a close Overwatch 2 match as much as the next person, but an Overwatch 2 bug that suddenly throws you onto the enemy team midway through the action is a slightly bizarre twist on balancing that nonetheless gives me a warm nostalgia for the heady days of Team Fortress 2. Blizzard’s competitive multiplayer game makes plenty of tweaks and improvements for Overwatch 2 season 3, but this seemingly unintentional issue is as bizarre as it is hilarious.
Overwatch 2 usually tries to refill any gaps when players leave, with an exception made for Overwatch 2 competitive play. Those of you who’ve played the game a fair while are probably familiar with the sight of a player (or group) leaving a match, only to be dropped straight back in as the game’s matchmaking system spots the very game they’ve just left in need.
In some instances, players have reported that players leaving can also trigger a bug that switches other players between teams. This isn’t a new phenomenon, as it reared its head on a few occasions in the first Overwatch as well, but its most recent prominent case is one of the funniest we’ve seen in a while.
Overwatch Reddit user Aleksey ‘Aleksey1903’ shares a clip of a game where they are playing support star Kiriko. In the video, seen below, we see that Aleksey’s support partner Ixus drops from the match – only for Aleksey’s game to suddenly jump to the hero select screen.
Taking a look at the scoreboard, Aleksey finds they are now on the very team they were previously facing off against, while the two supports who were on the enemy team have joined Aleksey’s original crew. To make matters more ridiculous, as the clip ends it appears that the player who initially dropped out is rejoining in the spare space, completing the full flip of the two support pairings.
Me and enemy supports got team swapped in the middle of the game from Overwatch
Alexsey adds some more humorous notes in the comments. Firstly, the change clearly didn’t do them any favours, as their new team lost – perhaps unsurprising given the rather impressive 120m to 25m lead that Alexsey and his initial teammates had built up prior to the switch. Furthermore, Alexsey says they actually earned the play of the game… but it happened during the time when they were still on their original team.
Other commenters point out that the swap happens right after an enemy support player compains about their team DPS, with one joking, “The Blizzard gods heard their prayer.” Similar bugs reported by players have seen other dramatic misadventures, including whole lobbies being dropped into entirely new maps. Despite my significant amount of time with the game, I’ve been fortunate enough to dodge such issues myself, but it’s certainly a sight to behold.
On a one-off incident, you might be able to shake it off as a silly novelty; however, being forced onto a losing team after helping their opponents to build up that dominant lead is certainly something that would feel less funny the fourth or fifth time it happened. We have reached out to Blizzard for comment, and will update the story with any response.
Make sure to check our Overwatch 2 tier list to see who the best characters are right now. Don’t miss out on Overwatch 2 dating sim Loverwatch either, as it’s pure, delightful cringe – and, unlike the mainline FPS game, you’ll actually be rewarded for playing both sides.