Overwatch

Overwatch‘s New Skins Are Based On Historic Figures

It’s that time again: Another year has passed, sapping us all of precious vitality and slowly pulverizing our faculties until we’re unidentifiable powder in the wind. But in return, we get new Overwatch skins as part of the game’s annual Lunar New Year event. Really, it’s a pretty even trade. Overwatch’s “Year of the Pig”…

Jeff Kaplan Knows Some People Will Always Hate Overwatch‘s Meta

Metas of competitive games age less like fine wine and more like cottage cheese in a dumpster. When a meta’s overstayed its welcome, you know—because players make stink after stink after stink about it. That’s where Overwatch, with its unpopular “GOATS” meta, is at right now. Game director Jeff Kaplan, though, isn’t sure it’s possible…

As a tie in with yesterday’s “Bastet” comic, Overwatch is kicking off an in-game event that’ll allow players to earn themed rewards. Much like D.Va’s Nano Challenge from last year, Ana’s Bastet Challenge will grant players a new skin for winning nine games, as well as other rewards on the way to that milestone. You…

Overwatch Fan’s Letter To Jeff Kaplan About Black Women Gets Heartfelt Response

In March 2017, an Overwatch fan wrote to Jeff Kaplan about the lack of black female characters in the game. To her surprise, he wrote back a few months later, saying he hoped that one day diversity would be the norm and promising that there were multiple black characters in the works. “The most important…

Red Carpet Superstar

JungAh Lee is a senior concept artist at Blizzard, and has worked on stuff like Overwatch You can see more of Lee’s work at her ArtStation page

The Internet Reacts To Soldier 76 And His Ex-Boyfriend

Tracer is no longer the only canonically LGBTQ hero in Overwatch. Today, Blizzard released a new short story focusing on steely sniper grandma Ana and grumpy military dad Soldier 76. The latter, it turns out, used to be involved with a man named Vincent. In the short story, titled “Bastet,” Ana encounters Soldier for the…

Overwatch Team Says Player Questioned About Identity Was Impostor After All [UPDATE]

Earlier this week, a player going by the handle Ellie—no first or last name provided—departed Overwatch Contenders team Second Wind after facing harassment and doxxing threats surrounding their identity. This evening, rumors circulated that they may have been an impostor after all. Now their former team has confirmed as much. In a TwitLonger post, Second…

Overwatch Pro Quits After Harassment Over Whether She Was Really Playing [UPDATE]

Update – 10:30 PM, 1/04/19: Since the publication of this story, new signs have emerged that Ellie may not have been who people thought she was. Earlier today, Aspen, an Overwatch streamer for esports organization Cloud 9, claimed that top-500 player Punisher—her friend—was Ellie after all. “Ellie is not Ellie,” she said during a stream.…

With Activision’s Influence Growing, Blizzard Is Cutting Costs

Blizzard has spent the year taking big measures to cut costs as it prepares for a lean 2019. Those measures, as conveyed by people who work or have worked for the iconic studio, include employee buyouts in which workers are offered money to leave, a broadening of the finance department, and the limitation of budgets…

Blizzard Creates Official Catalog Of Overwatch Pros Who Break The Rules

We know who’s been naughty now, thanks to Blizzard’s new website outing Overwatch pros for violating the Overwatch League’s rules and code of conduct. The Overwatch League’s “discipline tracker” is a public list of players who broke league rules, such as by boosting other people’s accounts or being toxic. Next to their infractions, Blizzard lists…

Toy Somehow Makes Overwatch‘s Lucio Even More Adorable

The folks at Japanese toymaker Good Smile Company continue their quest to chibify the entire Overwatch roster with the Nendoroid version of Lucio. Look at his tiny tats! As Overwatch characters go, Lucio strikes me as one of the more confident, fun-loving members of the group. Good Smile’s tiny version captures his self-assured swagger perfectly.…

Overwatch Players Want Blizzard To Rework Mercy, But Can’t Agree On How

Mercy, bless her eternally-giving heart, has seen better days. Recent updates have made her less popular, and some players say her kit lacks excitement compared to other heroes—a complaint that’s followed Mercy for quite a while now. Longtime Mercy mains are ready for an overhaul, but they’re not sure Blizzard is picking up what they’re…

Jetpack Cat is finally in Overwatch… sort of. Players recently discovered that, as part of a Brigitte “toast” emote that came with the new winter event, she raises a mug with the face of a cat and the back of a jetpack cat. This is a reference to both a scrapped Overwatch hero and the fact…

Overwatch Map Pulled After Players Get Stuck In Spawn Rooms

Overwatch’s Blizzard World map has never been universally beloved, but shortly after Blizzard decked its halls with holiday cheer yesterday, the map apparently decided to go full Grinch. Teams found themselves beset on all sides by busted spawn rooms and glitched payloads. Now Blizzard World is shut down. In Overwatch, maps have spawn rooms that…

Figma’s latest Overwatch figure might also be its best effort yet. Pharah will be out in October 2019 (!)

Overwatch Winter Update Brings Festive, Furry Skins, But Little Else

Overwatch’s annual Winter Wonderland event is back, which means snowball fights, festive cheer, and yetis or whatever, but mostly skins. This year, everyone is a furry, except for Mercy, who’s a World of Warcraft elf Here’s everybody in their new holiday duds: Personally, I’m a pretty big fan of Junkrat’s Krampus look, but everything else…

Overwatch League Season Two Will Have Some Road Games

One of the original appeals of the Overwatch League’s formula was the idea of teams traveling around the world to play in each others’ home cities, surrounded by whooping, hollering, body-paint-covered hometown crowds. But that didn’t happen during season one, and reports afterward alleged that it wouldn’t be a thing until 2020. Now, though, OWL…

Some NBA Stars Made An Overwatch Hype Video

A media guy for the Dallas Mavericks has been bugging the team for two years to let him do an Overwatch-style hype video, and they finally relented. It was worth the wait. Especially for Luka Doncic’s half-ass Junkrat. Before you give him too much shit, though, his complete lack of enthusiasm might be explained by…

Overwatch Team Saved From Enemy Ult By Basketball

Every time Overwatch players hear Zarya shout her trademark Russian ult line—“Ogon’ po gotovnosti!”—a sinking feeling of inevitability sets in. It means that you and your team are going to be dragged together by a tiny black hole and then lasered down, or obliterated by a ghost dragon or something. There is, however, a hard…

The Paradox Of Online Games’ Group-Finders

One of the great online gaming paradoxes is the group-finder, a feature intended to bring people together that often does the opposite. It’s a mainstay in online games, a one-size-fits-all solution to the ever-present social gaming problem of “How do I meet people and progress?” Functional, accessible and a little impersonal, the group-finder makes connecting…