Blizzard will start dishing out permanent Overwatch bans next week

Blizzard is bringing out the big guns in the fight against Overwatch's toxic players. Starting on September 27, the developer will begin dishing out permanent Competitive Play bans to any player who accumulates three or more seasonal bans. 

Seasonal bans don't need to be consecutive to qualify for a permanent Competitive Play ban, meaning players will be eligible for a permanent ban even if they earn seasonal bans during completely different events.

"For example, if a player earned seasonal bans in Seasons 2 and 4, and then earns another ban in Season 7, he or she will be eligible for a permanent ban from Competitive Play as soon as that third seasonal ban is issued," explained Blizzard's community manager, Josh Engen. 

What's more, permanent Competitive Play bans and seasonal bans won't decay or reset over time, so once you've been hit with the banhammer, there's no coming back. 

Blizzard has been clamping down on Overwatch's more virulent players after it was accused of being too soft. Two days ago, the studio released a Xbox One patch that bars players with an 'avoid me' ranking from using voice chat. 

Prior to that, the company promised to retool the game's reporting system to better tackle instances of cheating and harmful conduct, and more recently game director Jeff Kaplan confirmed the developer would be increasing the length and impact of certain sanctions to create a safer game space.