Look, I love Overwatch 2. I've sunk hundreds of hours into it since 2022, grinding the competitive ladder, mastering heroes like Kiriko and Sojourn, and even dabbling in those wacky custom games that the community cooks up. But there’s a dark side to that creativity, and it’s something I still can’t shake off even in 2026. Remember when custom lobbies were flooded with things like "Sexual Assault Simulator"? Yeah, that actually happened — and while it was years ago, the scars it left on the game’s reputation are still weirdly visible if you know where to look.

Let me set the scene. Back in late 2022, a parent going by LynnMBE on Twitter posted a desperate warning that went viral: “Do not let your children play Overwatch 2. My 12 year old son found custom games within it, one called 'Sexual Harassment' and one that simulated the female characters being raped. Thankfully my son realized it was bad, closed the game, and told me. Don’t play.” I still remember reading that and feeling my stomach drop. This wasn’t some obscure, unmoderated forum — this was right there in the custom game browser, accessible to anyone, including kids.

The specific mode was called “Sexual Harassment Simulator,” and the description read like a twisted joke: “Find new friends, live a normal life, and give birth to a child!” Screenshots showed in-game chat logs that made my skin crawl. I won’t repeat them here. As a player who uses custom games to decompress with harmless modes like aim trainers or hide-and-seek, seeing that toxicity weaponized in a space I loved felt like a betrayal.

Blizzard’s response was swift — kind of. A spokesperson told PC Gamer, “Inappropriate or explicit content has absolutely no place in our game. We immediately removed the user created game mode once made aware of its existence. 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.” On paper, that sounds fine. In practice? The lobby was taken down, sure, but the underlying code that allowed it to exist remained active for months. Anyone with the share code could still fire it up privately. That’s like locking your front door but leaving the key under the mat. Not exactly airtight moderation.

🔥 How we got here: custom games’ double edge

Custom games in Overwatch 2 were always supposed to be a playground for creativity. You can tweak health pools, gravity, ability cooldowns — basically, you’re a mini game designer. I’ve seen incredible stuff: parkour challenges, prop hunts, even full PvE recreations before the actual campaign launched. But without robust content filtering, that same freedom becomes a megaphone for the worst impulses.

In 2024, Overwatch 2 rolled out its new “Arcade Refresh” and promised stronger automated moderation, but even by early 2025 I was still seeing titles slip through — less extreme, but still borderline. Names like “Anime Girl Dungeon” or “Torture Chamber Roleplay” popped up before being deleted within hours. The cat-and-mouse game continues. As a player, it’s exhausting. I don’t want to police the server browser; I just want to headshot some Tracers.

👪 The parent perspective I can’t ignore

Now that I’m a bit older in 2026, with friends who have kids of their own, I totally get the outrage. Overwatch 2 is rated T for Teen, not M. Even then, no rating justifies what those lobbies simulated. The fact that a 12-year-old had to stumble onto that content and self-censor it is heartbreaking — and also a glaring failure of the game’s safeguards. Parental controls exist, yes, but they mostly block chat or limit playtime. They don’t scan custom game descriptions for assault-themed keywords. Most parents wouldn’t even think to look there.

Blizzard did later add a content reporting flow directly inside the custom game browser, and in 2025 they introduced an AI-driven text moderation tool that supposedly flags inappropriate lobbies before they appear. But I’m skeptical. AI moderation is only as good as the data it’s trained on, and bad actors know exactly how to bait-and-switch with innocent-sounding titles.

🤔 Why this still matters in 2026

You might think, “That was ages ago, why bring it up now?” Because history repeats itself. The same loopholes that enabled “Sexual Harassment Simulator” are the same ones that could allow hate speech lobbies, grooming attempts, or worse. The Overwatch community is massive — millions of players daily — and that scale demands constant vigilance. I’ve seen similar scandals bubble up in Roblox, Minecraft, even Fortnite creative modes. What makes Overwatch 2 different is its age rating and its parent company’s resources; there’s really no excuse for letting this fester.

✅ What’s actually improved

To be fair, Blizzard has taken some concrete steps since 2022:

Year	Action Taken
2022	Manual removal of offending lobbies; public apology
2023	Enhanced automatic text filters; added in-game reporting for custom games
2024	Arcade Refresh tightened lobby visibility rules
2025	AI moderation tools rolled out; code sunsetting for legacy custom modes

By mid-2026, I rarely see anything that makes me want to uninstall. But the memory lingers. Every time I scroll past a custom game with a vaguely weird title, I hesitate. That trust hasn’t fully healed.

💬 My advice to fellow players (and parents)

Here’s the thing: I’m not telling you to uninstall Overwatch 2. It’s still one of the best shooters on the market, with a vibrant community and a dev team that does listen (eventually). But stay aware. If you’re a parent, don’t just rely on platform-level controls — have open conversations with your kids about what they see online. As a player, report toxic lobbies the moment you spot them. The system works faster when we all participate.

And to Blizzard, if you’re reading this (I know you’re not, but let me dream): please treat custom game code like you treat competitive exploits. If it can be abused to harm people, patch it out permanently — don’t just hide it. Your player base deserves a safe playground, not another headline about a hidden nightmare lobby.