CONTENT WARNING: This news article contains statements about sexual assault.

A user-created Overwatch 2 mode that simulates sexual assault has reappeared in the game's custom game browser and appears to be one of the most popular modes for some users.

I contacted Blizzard yesterday to confirm that the unique code to play this mode was working. However, I have yet to hear back from Blizzard about what, if anything, they plan to do to prevent this mode from returning to "Overwatch."

"Sexual Harassment Simulator" is an updated version of a mode players discovered in October (opens in new tab) that tasks one player with impregnating a female Overwatch 2 hero. The player, as Cassidy, is instructed to knock the Mercy-like hero to the ground and repeatedly crouch over her body. In this mode, the female hero is marked "pregnant" and "raping..." appears at the top of the screen until the player is instructed to wait for the baby, represented as an AI-controlled Torbjorn, to be born. is displayed at the top of the screen.

The description states that this mode is by the same creator as the original mode, "Amatsuhikone on YouTube." I had found a YouTube channel by this name last year, which had some Overwatch-related videos, but it seems to be gone now.

The new mode was played so much that it showed up on the first game's popularity page after entering the custom game browser; Reddit user Joyolo13 (opens in new tab) posted a screenshot of it on the game's subreddit. The mode did not appear in the popular section of the Overwatch 2 server in North America, but autocuration appears to vary by region. A Swedish Overwatch 2 player confirmed that it was on their popularity page and also on their partner's popularity page.

Anyone with a unique code can create a lobby for this mode. It is not always available, nor is it always available under the same title, although it can be searched in the Custom Game Browser using words like "simulator."

Overwatch 2's custom game browser tends to have modes labeled "18+," and some claim to be for erotic roleplay, but in the five years since the browser's release, I have never seen a mode as explicit as "sexual harassment simulator." None.

It does not appear that Blizzard's moderation tools automatically filter out those words from titles and descriptions. You can report a mode from its info page because "custom game text is abused," but Blizzard does not allow you to enter a description as you would when reporting a player.

When the mode surfaced late last year, Twitter user Lynn MBE posted a PSA directed at parents with children who might find the mode; Lynn said their son found the mode and "realized it was bad, closed the game and told me " he stated. Popular comedian and Twitch streamer Brian "Rimmy" Remond boosted the PSA with his own screenshot of this mode, noting that the game is "marketed for 12-year-olds."

"Inappropriate or explicit content has absolutely no place in our games," a Blizzard spokesperson told PC Gamer after we inquired about the mode last year. "We removed the user-created game mode immediately after becoming aware of its existence. We are continually working to improve our automated filters to prevent inappropriate user-generated content, and we manually remove any that are not detected by our system."

Roblox's (open in new tab) user-created game moderation was recently exposed by a parent and gaming industry veteran after she spent six hours perusing a vast library of custom games. Despite having an age rating system, she saw "weird pedo stuff, bathroom peeping games, and suicidal idealizations" without an age gate and immediately deleted her children's accounts.