Blizzard confirms that it's banned a big number of World of Warcraft players due to botting, and some reports show that over 100,000 people have seen their accounts banned temporarily for six months due to the illegal tools and cheats.

World of Warcraft has been around for over 10 years now, and while the massively multiplayer online role-playing game doesn't command the same following as in its glory days, over 7.1 million people are still subscribed to the title nowadays.

Blizzard bans a huge number of WoW players

Unfortunately for some, it seems that the number has just taken a nosedive of around 100,000, as Blizzard confirms that it's banned a huge number of players in World of Warcraft who employed bots and tools to help them gain an advantage over others or play the game without any actual human involvement.

According to the studio, lots of people were using third-party programs, either bots or other automation tools, in order to make things easier and skip certain situations.

"We’ve recently taken action against a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay, known as bots. We’re committed to providing an equal and fair playing field for everyone in World of Warcraft, and will continue to take action against those found in violation of our Terms of Use. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated," the studio says on its forums.

Lots of people were punished by Blizzard

Blizzard doesn't share any actual figures, but via Reddit, it seems that over 100,000 active players have received six-month bans as part of this wave of punishment. Those on their first offense have just received these temporary restrictions, but those with past punishments have been banned completely from the multiplayer title.

The affected regions include North America as well as Europe, and it's unclear if more bans will be dealt in the near future.