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Hearthstone Takes Swift Action Against Bot Accounts

A significant ban wave by Hearthstone sees a massive crackdown on bots and malicious users, resulting in the permanent prohibition of thousands of accounts.
Hearthstone Takes Swift Action Against Bot Accounts

Highlights

  • Hearthstone has implemented its largest ban wave to date, resulting in the permanent banning of nearly 200,000 accounts associated with botting and malicious activities.
  • This ban wave in Hearthstone surpasses the scale of similar actions taken in other live-service games, marking a momentous occurrence within the gaming community.
  • Despite recent cutbacks affecting Blizzard's customer support team, Hearthstone remains steadfast in its efforts to identify and eliminate bot accounts, aiming to foster a safer and more welcoming gaming environment.

Hearthstone has recently carried out its most extensive ban wave, culminating in the closure of almost 200,000 Hearthstone accounts since the start of the year. The primary focus of this crackdown has been the eradication of bots and disruptive users from the game's community.

Similar to many other online multiplayer games, Hearthstone continually combats players who utilize bots – automated programs designed to play the game, often for the purpose of gaining and selling in-game currency or rewards. Over the past decade, Blizzard's collectible card game has consistently taken measures to combat bot activity, including empowering Hearthstone enthusiasts to report suspicious or detrimental behavior.

Since the commencement of 2024, Hearthstone has taken decisive action against a record number of offending accounts. According to a forum post by Hearthstone community manager Vyraneer, the game banned over 60,000 accounts in January due to botting or other forms of exploitation. Subsequently, on February 7, Hearthstone executed a sweeping ban of more than 135,000 botting accounts, marking the most substantial ban wave in the game's history. In total, nearly 200,000 accounts have been banned within a little over a month.

Hearthstone Bans Nearly 200,000 Accounts

Large-scale ban waves are not uncommon in live-service games like Hearthstone. Companies frequently employ such measures to obstruct malevolent entities from discerning their tracking techniques. However, ban waves in other games typically entail thousands of account closures, as evidenced by a recent instance involving approximately 11,000 bans in Escape from Tarkov. Therefore, the magnitude of this Hearthstone ban wave sets it apart as a momentous event.

Evidently, Blizzard maintains a strict stance on account bans. In December 2023, over 270,000 accounts across both retail and Classic versions of World of Warcraft faced bans, representing the most substantial mass account closure reported by the company since it commenced sharing monthly ban statistics in June.

Regrettably, the recent downsizing at Microsoft has had an impact on a significant portion of Blizzard's customer support team. Consequently, many of the company's games, including Hearthstone, have experienced a reduction in moderators, game masters, and other roles crucial for identifying offending accounts, in favor of outsourced agents. Nevertheless, Hearthstone's recent communication underscores its unwavering commitment to combatting bot accounts. With this in mind, the game aims to persist in identifying and addressing such disruptive entities, striving to foster a more secure and inclusive environment for the Hearthstone community.

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