Sexual Harassment Simulator is once again the most popular custom game in Overwatch 2. This is despite Blizzard previously facing criticism for failing to prevent these violently misogynistic lobbies from appearing in the game, and promising to improve moderation filters to ensure this doesn't happen again.
Now, not only is another lobby advertising itself as a sexual harassment simulator, it's also the first option you see when you go to the Custom Games tab. This implies it is currently among the most popular game modes, making it unclear how Blizzard hasn't removed it by the time of writing.
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This development came to our attention this afternoon when a Reddit user shared that the game mode was once again on the front page of Custom Games. Many in the replies say this has been a constant issue since the first Overwatch, with Blizzard's lack of action against the mode seeming to go back months.
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Sure enough, when we booted up Overwatch 2 to verify this, it was the first option to appear in Custom Games. We were able to join a game, although we left before any other players joined, only staying long enough to see the lobby rules.
As you can see in the in-game screenshot, players are told to "flashbang victims", and teabag them to simulate the sexual assault. Players seem to win by having the most "children", making sexual assault competitive and encouraged.
The server initially sparked controversy in October, back when Overwatch 2 first launched. It was met with condemnation across the board, even receiving coverage in non-gaming news outlets as parents were shocked to find this content in the game, especially when it is rated as being appropriate for children aged 12 and up in Europe, and 13 and up in North America.
At the time of this initial pushback, Blizzard said that such content had "no place" in Overwatch. "We immediately removed the user-created game mode once made aware of its existence," the statement continues. "We are continually working to improve automatic filters to prevent inappropriate user-created content and manually removing any that are not caught by the system."