Complaints over the 'crunch' working practice in the game industry have grown after it emerged Blizzard Entertainment has been subjecting its workforce to compulsory digitization, requiring its programmers and designers to work on their games from within, citing efficiency benefits in the run-up to the release deadline of Overwatch 3.

The controversy began after it was discovered one programmer had been accidentally left digitized within the game prior to shipping. Gamers noticed the Overwatch-oversight after the one game character, Tracer, was found to be behaving oddly, seemingly working to finalize textures and props in-game, unaware that the first-person shooter had already shipped weeks prior in an uncompleted state.

The many iterations of the programmer, identified as one Anthony Chapman, report being ‘fine but tired’ and that he had ‘lost track of time’ adding ‘it isn’t like they give me breaks anyway’. Much to his credit, Anthony continued trying to complete the game even in the midst of explosions and bulletfire, although some gamers complained 'I wish he'd just get on the damn point'. Anthony was reported missing last month by his girlfriend after failing to return home after his 14-hour shift.

Blizzard has launched an immediate recall of all copies of the game with assurances that all iterations of 'Tracer' will be fixed. Details as to what this entails remain hazy, though concerned gamers have opted to retain their copies out of fears for Anthony safety and potential deletion, adapting their computers into ‘shelters’ to house the inadvertent AI in safety.

In response, Blizzard’s legal team has asserted Mr Chapman remains their intellectual property, while a counter-petition has been established demanding the company reimburse the family of Mr Chapman for the 10 billion hours of additional overtime he is estimated to have accrued since release.

The defective copies of the game have become collector’s items, with discs listed for hundreds of dollars online, and a budding modding scene has even arisen, allowing gamers to customise their Anthonys with different outfits or bodies.

By networking multiple versions, My Chapman has even been able to interact with himself. His girlfriend has since broken off their relationship after steamy footage of these Anthony-on-Anthony encounters was uploaded online.

One collector with over 130 copies has stated, “It's fantastic. I’ve never had pets so this is the next best thing. I just love watching them play with each other.”