Overwatch’s console report feature is “extremely challenging” to develop

Console Overwatch players are desperate for a report feature. And they’ll get one, but it might not be coming for a while.

Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan reminded players on the Overwatch forum that Blizzard is still working on the feature. It’s a bit more challenging than players realize, however.

“This system is extremely challenging from a technical standpoint because it goes beyond a simple change to the Overwatch game client,” Kaplan said. “We have the Overwatch team and the Battle.net team working to integrate this into both Sony and Microsoft’s existing architecture.”

Kaplan did not have an estimated timeline for the feature’s arrival.

The developer hoped to have the report feature implemented by summer, Kaplan mentioned in a late January update, but it looks like that may not happen after all. In March, Blizzard revamped its report system, adding new categories that lay out specific reasons for reporting Overwatch players.

Blizzard has not commented on how the new report system is working, but one Overwatch player experimenting with the system thinks it’s doing its job, albeit a bit slow. The Overwatch player reportedly played 50 games between May 30 and June 1, asking players to report them after making a “toxic” comment in chat.

Two days passed before Blizzard was able to take action, which sounds short—but the player said he played 50 games within that time span. If it does work as intended, console Overwatch players could see a more friendly playing field when they do get a reporting system. Until then, toxicity runs rampant.