Overwatch 2’s chat filters are preventing players from typing out “raccoon,” inadvertently banning them from talking about the game’s top esports team, Crazy Raccoon.
Swear filters are nothing new to games, but in a surprising turn of events, Overwatch 2’s is going so far that it’s not letting players discuss the Overwatch Champions Series 2025 Champions Clash winners.
On May 17, a screenshot from an Overwatch 2 game chat started gaining traction in the community after a player tried (and failed) to call their teammates “raccoons.”
“My teammates might be rac****s, otherwise everyone played great,” their message stated, with “raccoons” being censored.
Overwatch 2’s swear filter bans “raccoons”
“Apparently raccoons are not allowed?” the confused player asked the OW2 community.
As many in the comments mentioned, the word “raccoons” contains a racial slur, but in trying to filter out the word, the system is banning a completely different word in the process.
This also means that one of Overwatch 2’s top esports teams, Crazy Raccoon, sometimes referred to as Crazy Raccoons, can’t be mentioned in chat, either.
Crazy Raccoon has been one of the two biggest stars in the OWCS since its inception, frequently either coming first in tournaments or placing second to their main rival, Team Falcons.
Users in the thread also mentioned how Marvel Rivals’ chat filter, which also bans plenty of words, hasn’t banned the word Raccoon because of the playable character, Rocket Raccoon.
This isn’t the first time that Overwatch’s chat filter has caused controversy. In 2024, a player was banned from the hero shooter for typing “GG,” “yipppeee,” and “nice shot.”
When the player tried to get their month-long suspension reverted, Blizzard doubled down and claimed that their initial findings were correct.
It’s not clear yet if Blizzard will change their filters to allow players to actually type out “raccoon” or “raccoons” but if not, don’t expect to see any trash pandas added as animal heroes to fight alongside Winston and Wrecking Ball anytime soon.
