Overwatch glitch made Retribution event characters playable (update)

Overwatch’s current limited-time event, Retribution, adds a bunch of new AI-controlled enemies, like the Assassin, Sniper and Heavy Assault. Those new enemies are supposed to be restricted to the new arcade mode, but some players have found a way to bring them into competitive multiplayer, thanks to a new bug.

The clips we’ve seen so far on Twitch and YouTube via Reddit appear to all be from the Korean version of Overwatch, but whatever glitch or hack is responsible for this wizardry isn’t limited to just Retribution. Players have joined games as Uprising’s Null Sector bots and Junkrat’s RIP Tire — sans Junkrat — as well.

Here’s a clip of an Overwatch player fighting on Junkertown as the Talon Heavy Assault character from Retribution:

And here’s that same Heavy Assault unit showing up in a 6v6 Competitive Elimination match in Castillo:

This is obviously a problem for Blizzard (and players), given that the Heavy Assault unit deals some serious damage and has a massive pool of hit points. It’s not clear how widespread this is or if Blizzard has a hotfix in the works, but we’ve reached out to the developer for comment.

Update: Blizzard has already issued a hotfix for this bug, the company told Polygon via email.