Blizzard slams emergency patch button as Overwatch players spam chat to crash entire lobbies and use a bugged Soldier 76 skin to turn invisible

Overwatch 2
(Image credit: Blizzard)

Overwatch might be enjoying a second wind of popularity, but that also means more people than ever are capable of finding and then exploiting any potential bugs that pop up after each patch or update.

Look no further than the last 24 hours in Overwatch Land, where players have been nuking entire lobbies with the power of chat and running around as a half-invisible Soldier 76.

Over the past few days, Overwatch griefers discovered a bug that would let them crash an entire lobby if they spammed "<" enough times into the game's text chat. Whether the bug was used to troll or end a game before a potential loss, it was probably the most annoying thing to happen to Overwatch since that godforsaken hamster.

I have not seen anyone talk about this soldier skin bug from r/Overwatch

Game-breaking text chat is a relatively new bug for Overwatchers to contend with. Being eliminated by freakish, floating heads? That's a good old classic.

Anyone who's jumped back into the game since its Overwatch: Season 1 update might have noticed that Soldier 76's Valentine's Day skin - the one that makes him look like Prince Charming from Shrek - is really, really bugged. As in, it makes the hero all but invisible with only his head and cape on show.

Blizzard said it had "fixed an issue with missing textures on the Charming 76 skin" a few days ago, only to have disabled the skin completely just yesterday, February 26, because trying to shoot thin air in a competitive shooter feels a tad unfair. Curiously, another Soldier 76 skin was plagued with a similar invisibility bug an entire decade ago. Overwatch really is back, huh?

There's no timeframe on when the Charming 76 skin might return.

Blizzard reveals Overwatch Rush, a "top-down hero shooter designed specifically for mobile" that's being built by a dedicated team within the studio

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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