In 2023, Blizzard opened up Overwatch’s world for third-party collaborations. The first was a set of skins and other cosmetics based on the anime/manga One-Punch Man, which naturally turned Overwatch’s own “one-punch man,” Doomfist, into the titular hero with a new skin. The cape is luxurious, but he’s not the only hero who got to cosplay during the event. Soldier: 76 gets to ride a bike as Mumen Rider, Kiriko’s green wig is wigging as the Terrible Tornado, and Overwatch’s resident cyborg Genji naturally becomes One-Punch Man’s cyborg Genos.
Looking back, the collaboration was strange because One Punch Man hasn’t really been doing much as of late, with the third season still in development and the last one having come out in 2019. But there’s a surprising amount of love shown in the skins, highlight intros, and other cosmetics, as silly as it is seeing Soldier: 76 pedaling like his life depends on it.
The second big collaboration was with K-Pop girl group Le Sserafim, and it was an absolute banger of an event. Take my hand, walk with me. Have you heard the good word of Le Sserafim’s catchy as hell bop “Perfect Night”? Have you basked in the glory of Tracer, Kiriko, Brigitte, D.Va, and Sombra geared up for a K-Pop concert, serving some of the most glamorous skins Overwatch has ever seen? And did you watch the music video, in which all the previously mentioned girlies attend a Le Sserafim concert and use their various abilities to have their own perfect night? It ruled. I’m still wearing the Sombra skin when I play her, and have no plans to take it off.
Le Sserafim / Blizzard Entertainment
While Blizzard looked outside of its stable for crossovers, it also looked to the other side of the office and had a Diablo crossover, as well. Moira mains rejoiced as she finally got a decent skin out of the arrangement, though the Diablo-themed co-op mode was extremely mid and tiresome. Also, John Cena showed up in a viral marketing campaign for some reason, though that had no impact on the game itself.
Even if you don’t watch One-Punch Man or jive with Le Sserafim’s music, Overwatch 2’s collaborative events have felt meaningful, not like they’re just cheap crossovers. The team at Blizzard has done a lot to capture the vibes of its partners without it coming at the expense of its own identity. Crossovers can be exhausting, as games like Fortnite can lose their entire sense of self as they clutter their worlds with pieces of other properties. But so far, Overwatch 2 has found a happy medium in paying tribute to something within its own framework. — KS
Gaming’s biggest night has come and gone, and perhaps the biggest surprise of all was just how little time devs were given to thank their family, fans, and recently deceased colleagues during their acceptance speeches. But before that, we finally got our first in-depth look at Rockstar’s GTA 6, the most anticipated game in a decade. Here’s your cheat sheet to the week’s biggest news.
Rockstar Games has confirmed that, at least at launch, the company’s long-awaited open-world crime sim, Grand Theft Auto VI, will launch on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 only, with no mention of a PC version. – Zack Zwiezen Read More
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is often heralded as one of the best adventure games of the past 25 years. With the nefarious Ganon once again scheming to conquer the land, it’s up to Link to traverse through time, space, and yet another aggravating water temple to save the Kingdom of Hyrule. While the epic for the N64 is celebrating a major birthday this year, inspiring tribute mash-up videos and social media celebrations, another classic Zelda title is quietly celebrating a major milestone of its own. – Jen Glennon Read More
The Day Before kicked off 2023 as one of the most wishlisted games on Steam. Now, after endless controversies, the self-proclaimed open-world survival-horror MMO styled after The Last of Us is finally in Steam Early Access, and it’s getting panned. The first players to lay hands on the much-hyped zombie shooter are sharing footage of game-breaking glitches and leaving thousands of negative reviews. – Ethan Gach Read More
Overwatch 2 season eight begins today, December 5, but Blizzard showed off its new skins, events, and latest tank hero, Mauga, before kick-off. And the sentiment from players about the skins for season eight has been mixed—Baptiste’s formal wear is a standout, but it’s sandwiched between some real stinkers and an unremarkable Mythic Skin. But one cosmetic has stood out for all the wrong reasons: Mercy’s Year of the Dragon event skin. – Kenneth Shepard Read More
2023’s The Game Awards just wrapped. Did you watch it? Well, no worries if you missed it (or had something better to do) as we’ve rounded up every major game trailer and world premiere you could want to watch in a single sitting. So if you’re looking to check out a new trailer or catch up on all the games that were announced this year, you’re in the right place. – Claire Jackson Read More
A seven-second TikTok reverberated across the internet over the weekend, after it claimed to show the “first look” at in-game footage of a city in Grand Theft Auto VI, the open-world blockbuster whose official trailer is just a day away. Frantic speculation about whether the footage was real or not ensued, including unverified rumors that the leak involved a Rockstar Games developer’s own kid. – Ethan Gach Read More
While Sony acquired Destiny 2 maker Bungie for $3.6 billion in 2022, it repeatedly claimed the creator of Halo and other hits would remain an “independent subsidiary.” Now IGN reports that if Bungie’s sci-fi MMO keeps failing revenue targets, Sony could dissolve its existing board of directors and take full control of the roughly 1,100 person studio. – Ethan Gach Read More
After a long and tumultuous road, Cyberpunk 2077 appears to be getting its final major update today. The sprawling patch includes a new ridable metro system and more romance options, as well as a host of other tweaks, changes, and additions. Unless it ends up breaking something big in the game, consider patch 2.1 Night City’s last overhaul until Cyberpunk 2 arrives a decade or so from now. – Ethan Gach Read More
Where Does Games Media Go From Here? | Ahead of the Game
According to Blizzard, these changes were meant to address criticism that Support characters had been enjoying a rise in power since Overwatch 2 launched last year, so almost everyone is seeing some tweaks, mostly in the form of nerfs.
High-impact abilities like Ana’s Biotic Grenade and Kiriko’s Protection Suzu have been given increased cooldowns, while building abilities like Illari’s Healing Pylon and Baptiste’s Immortality Field now have reduced durability and can be more easily destroyed by the enemy team.
Zenyatta, meanwhile, has one of the more notable changes to his Orb of Discord ability. The ability increases damage taken on whichever enemy it’s attached to, giving Zen’s team a chance to focus on them and take them out quickly. Now, it. can’t be reapplied to the same target for seven seconds after it’s removed. This means you can’t just keep spamming it on one high-priority target.
The full patch notes read as follows:
LE SSERAFIM X OVERWATCH 2 LIMITED TIME EVENT
Overwatch 2 is teaming up with K-pop sensation, LE SSERAFIM in an in-game music collaboration. Play Concert Clash, a 3v3 capture-the-flag mode set in a K-pop themed Busan. Play as D.Va, Kiriko, Tracer, Brigitte and Sombra—decked out in LE SSERAFIM-inspired skins—and compete over tickets and capture objectives to turn them in and score points. This limited-time event begins on Wednesday, November 1, at 11:00 AM PDT.
GENERAL UPDATES
ENDORSEMENTS
Endorsement level decay has been reworked to be more forgiving in some circumstances. The endorsement level always decays slightly whenever you finish a match, but that decay is now reduced by the percentage of players who could not have endorsed you. If none of the players in the match could have endorsed you, your Endorsement level would not decay. The following reasons prevent other players from endorsing you:
The player is your friend.
The player endorsed you within the past 24 hours.
Endorsement level decay also no longer occurs when a server shuts down. The most common reason for this is a competitive match shutting down when players leave the match early.
CHALLENGES
Added Legendary, Mythic, and Ultimate Player Title challenges to each hero’s progression challenges.
PROGRESSION
Victory Pose now shows your Progression Level instead of the Hero Level.
Developer Comments: The hero you end the match on isn’t necessarily representative of you as a player. This change is intended to better show off your overall progression.
SOCIAL FEATURES
The default option for match text chat is now set to OFF (previously set to ON) for new players. This can be changed in the Social Options.
The default option for team voice chat is now set to ON (previously set to AUTO-JOIN) for new players. This can be changed in the Social Options.
Current text or voice chat settings for existing players are not changed.
Developer Comments: We will be changing the defaults for both text and voice chat to encourage effective communication through the ping system while reducing the chance of encountering disruptive chat in the game.
HERO UPDATES
Developer comments: This balance patch is largely focused on widening the window of time players have during combat between some impactful cooldowns, such as Bastion’s reconfigure, Cassidy’s grenade, and many of the support utilities.
TANK
D.VA
Developer comments: The added projectile speed to Micro Missiles helps improve their consistency at medium range while the decreased movement speed penalty on Fusion Cannons enable D.Va to stick closer to mobile targets, making her more of a threat when diving into the enemy team.
Fusion Cannons
Movement speed penalty reduced from 40 to 30%.
Micro Missiles
Projectile speed increased from 40 to 50.
DOOMFIST
Developer comments: This change will give the stunned player more opportunities to react to Doomfist following a wall stun.
Rocket Punch
Minimum wall stun duration decreased from 0.25 to 0.15 seconds.
Maximum wall stun duration decreased from 0.75 to 0.6 seconds.
WINSTON
Developer comments: Increasing the range of the alternate fire will give Winston some more flexibility in positioning while dealing damage from range.
Tesla Cannon
Secondary fire range increased from 30 to 40 meters.
DAMAGE
BASTION
Configuration: Assault
Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
Weapon spread increased 10%.
CASSIDY
Magnetic Grenade
Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
MEI
Developer comments: With some of the recent changes, Mei is now slightly overperforming. Her improved primary fire damage output is good for her role, so rather than adjust that further, we’re instead targeting the more commonly frustrating crowd control aspect of its slowing effect.
Endothermic Blaster
Slow effect decreased from 40 to 30%.
SOMBRA
EMP
Ultimate cost decreased 10%.
SYMMETRA
Developer comments: With Symmetra recently gaining more lethality in her long-ranged secondary fire, she’s no longer as reliant on playing at close range, so we’re reverting her total health back to 200.
Base shield health reduced from 125 to 100 (total 200 HP)
WIDOWMAKER
Developer comments: Recon Visor is taking a long time to charge on average relative to other ultimate abilities so we’re reducing the cost. Widowmaker is also at a more severe disadvantage against Sombra with the recent rework and these changes will add more counterplay.
Widow’s Kiss
Unscoped shots to reach maximum spread increased from 3 to 7.
Infra-Sight
Ultimate cost reduced 10%.
SUPPORT
ANA
Biotic Grenade
Cooldown increased from 10 to 12 seconds.
BAPTISTE
Immortality Field
Health decreased from 150 to 125.
Cooldown increased from 23 to 25 seconds.
ILLARI
Developer comments: Illari’s overall damage output throughout a match is too high so we’re reducing how consistent her Solar Rifle damage is to apply. Her weapon has some other disadvantages such as needing to charge up and a reduced critical damage multiplier, but we’ll be evaluating how much of an effect this change has in combination with the reduced Healing Pylon uptime.
Solar Rifle
Primary fire projectile size reduced from 0.1 to 0.05 meters.
Healing Pylon
Base health reduced from 75 to 50 (total 100 HP).
Cooldown when destroyed increased from 12 to 15 seconds.
KIRIKO
Protection Suzu
Cooldown increased from 14 to 15 seconds.
LIFEWEAVER
Dev Comment: Lifeweaver’s total healing over a match is significantly higher than any other hero so to help bring it more in line we’re making some adjustments to his primary Healing Blossom.
Healing Blossom
Ammo reduced from 20 to 16.
Max heal reduced from 75 to 70.
Life Grip
Cooldown increased from 16 to 19 seconds.
ZENYATTA
Developer comments: The goal of these changes is to add more counterplay against Discord Orb and encourage Zenyatta players to think more about who to place it on. Now, if the effect ends for any reason, the target is temporarily unable to be targeted again by Discord Orb. A new soft-targeting reticle appears when aiming toward an enemy player that cannot be affected by Discord Orb to display the remaining duration before it can be reapplied. This is a significant change both to how the ability feels to use and how clear it is to understand, so we will be keeping a close eye on player feedback.
Base health increased from 50 to 75 (total 225 HP).
Harmony Orb
Time to wear off when not in line-of-sight increased from 3 to 5 seconds.
Orb of Discord
Can no longer be reapplied to the same target for 7 seconds after the effect has been removed.
Range increased from 30 to 40 meters.
HERO CUSTOM CONTROL UPDATES
In addition to the hero balance adjustments in this update, we are implementing additional quality-of-life settings and additional input options for several hero abilities to give you the ability to custom-tailor your experience of playing your favorite heroes.
Sorted many Hero-Specific Options into Advanced Hero Options category.
TANK
DOOMFIST
Added the Hero-Specific Options:
Relative Aim Sensitivity During Power Block – 100% by default.
Relative Gyro Aim Sensitivity During Power Block – 100% by default (Only available on gyro-supported platforms).
SIGMA
Added the Hero-Specific Option:
Rise During Gravitic Flux With Ability 3 – Off by default.
DAMAGE
ECHO
Added the Hero-Specific Options:
Crouch Activates Glide – Off by default.
Rise During Flight With Ability 1 – Off by default.
Flight Cancel Input – Ability 1 by default.
Automatically Toggle Glide After Flight – Off by default.
TORBJÖRN
Added the Hero-Specific Option:
Interact Cancels Deploy Turret – On by default.
SUPPORT
ILLARI
Added the Hero-Specific Option:
Rise During Captive Sun With Ability 3 – Off by default.
LÚCIO
Added the Hero-Specific Options:
Automatically Wall Ride – Off by default, Only available on Console Platforms.
Wall Ride Cares About Movement – Off by default.
MERCY
Added the Hero-Specific Options:
Crouch Activates Glide – On by default.
Automatically Toggle Angelic Decent After Guardian Angel – Off by default.
Rise During Valkyrie With Ability 3 – Off by default.
RUMBLE UPDATES
We’ve gone through and adjusted the Rumble and Trigger Feedback on several abilities for controllers. We looked to make the rumble more dynamic and responsive while also highlighting the unique feel of many abilities.
TANK
D. Va
Reworked Rumble on Primary Fire.
Added rumble on activation of Defense Matrix.
Adjusted trigger feedback on Defense Matrix to account for damage of destroyed projectile.
Added rumble on projectile destruction for Defense Matrix.
Added rumble on Self-Destruct activation.
Added trigger feedback on Boosters.
Added rumble on Call Mech start.
Adjusted rumble on Call Mech.
Added rumble on Call Mech hit.
Added rumble on entering the Mech after Call Mech.
Doomfist
Added rumble on start of Power Block.
Added rumble on Fist Empowerment.
Orisa
Fusion Driver rumble now scales slightly with Heat.
Added rumble on Overheat.
Added rumble on Javelin Spin start.
Added rumble on Javelin Spin duration.
Added rumble on Javelin Spin damaging an enemy.
Added rumble on Javelin Spin end.
Added rumble on Terra Surge start.
Added rumble on Terra Surge charge
Added rumble on Terra Surge activation.
Ramattra
Increase rumble strength and duration on Pummel.
Added rumble on Block activation.
Reinhardt
Added rumble on Barrier activation.
Roadhog
Added rumble on Chain Hook activation.
Added trigger feedback on Chain Hook activation.
Added trigger feedback on Chain Hook impact.
Added trigger feedback on Chain Hook retraction.
Sigma
Added rumble on Accreation fire.
Added rumble on Kinetic Grasp duration.
Added rumble on Kinetic Grasp absorb.
Added rumble on Kinetic Grasp Overhealth gain.
Added rumble on Gravitic Flux intro.
Added rumble on Gravitic Flux searching for targets.
Added rumble on Gravitic Flux found targets.
Added rumble on Gravitic Flux holding targets.
Adjusted rumble on Gravitic Flux slam.
Winston
Added rumble on Jump Pack activation.
Added rumble on Secondary Fire release.
Added rumble on Barrier Projector Activation.
Reworked rumble on Winston’s Primal Rage punch.
Added trigger feedback on Winston’s Primal Rage punch hit.
Wrecking Ball
Added rumble on Roll exit.
Adjusted the rumble on Piledriver impact.
Zarya
Added rumble on Particle Barrier.
Added rumble on Barrier Deploy.
Added rumble on Particle Barrier end.
Increased the rumble strength on Particle Beam while targeting an enemy.
DAMAGE
Ashe
Added rumble on Dynamite.
Added rumble on B.O.B. call.
Added rumble on B.O.B. landing.
Cassidy
Added rumble on Magnetic Grenade.
Added rumble on Deadeye start.
Genji
Added rumble during Dash.
Added rumble on Dash dealing damage.
Added rumble on Deflect start.
Added rumble on Deflect deflection.
Reworked rumble on Dragonblade swing.
Added Trigger Feedback on Dragonblade swing hit.
Added rumble on Wall Climb.
Added rumble on Ledge Climb.
Added rumble on Double Jump.
Hanzo
Added trigger feedback on Bow charge.
Reduced rumble duration on charging arrow to match charge time.
Reduced rumble on holding arrow.
Reduced rumble on arrow fire during Storm Arrows.
Added rumble on Lunge.
Added rumble on Dragonstrike fire.
Added rumble on Wall Climb.
Added rumble on Ledge Climb.
Added rumble on Sonic Arrow Equip.
Junkrat
Adjusted RIP-tire rumble.
Reduced rumble on Concussive Mine when not hitting self.
Increased rumble on Concussive Mine when hitting self.
Added rumble on Concussive Mine fire.
Added rumble on Steel Trap fire.
Mei
Added rumble on Blizzard fire.
Added rumble on Ice Wall start.
Added rumble on Ice Wall destroy.
Pharah
Increased Rumble on Primary Fire.
Added rumble on hitting yourself with Concussive Blast.
Reaper
Swapped the Left and Right Primary Fire rumble.
Increased the rumble on the Left Primary Fire.
Added rumble on Wraith Form activation.
Added rumble on Wraith form ending.
Adjusted Shadowstep’s trigger feedback for player’s input settings.
Added rumble on Shadowstep start.
Sojourn
Increased rumble on Primary Fire.
Adjusted rumble on Secondary Fire.
Added unique rumble on Secondary Fire shots charged above 90.
Added rumble on Power Slide jump.
Soldier: 76
Adjusted rumble on Helix Rockets.
Added rumble on Sprint start.
Added rumble on Spring duration.
Added rumble on Tactical Visor start.
Symmetra
Added rumble on all three levels of Primary Fire on miss.
Added rumble on moving from level 3 to level 2.
Added rumble on moving from level 2 to level 1.
Added rumble on Teleporter start.
Added rumble on Teleporter destroy.
Added rumble on Photon Barrier start.
Lengthened rumble on Photon Barrier fire.
Added rumble on using the teleporter (as any character).
Torbjörn
Added rumble on Turret Deploy.
Added rumble on Turret Destroy.
Widowmaker
Added rumble on Infra-sights.
SUPPORT
Baptiste
Reworked Exo-boots hold rumble.
Shortened Exo-boots charging-up rumble.
Added rumble on Amplification Matrix Start.
Brigitte
Reworked Brigitte’s Primary Fire rumble.
Added rumble on Shield Barrier activation.
Illari
Added rumble on Healing Pylon destroy.
Kiriko
Reworked Healing Ofuda rumble.
Adjusted Healing Ofuda rumble to respond to acquiring targets.
Added rumble on Wall Climb.
Added rumble on Ledge Climb.
Lifeweaver
Reworked Rumble on Rejuvenating Dash to be directional.
Added rumble on Tree of Life start.
Added rumble on Tree of Life destroy.
Lúcio
Added rumble on Amp It Up.
Added rumble on Crossfade.
Added rumble on Wall Ride start.
Added rumble on Wall Ride ride.
Added rumble on Wall Ride jump.
Added rumble on Sound Barrier start.
Added rumble on Sound Barrier.
Reworked rumble on Sound Barrier Fire.
Mercy
Added trigger feedback on Caduceus Staff Secondary Fire.
Added trigger feedback on Caduceus Blaster.
Added rumble on Valkyrie intro.
Moira
Reduced rumble on Secondary Fire.
Zenyatta
Added rumble on Healing Orb.
Added rumble on Discord Orb.
BUG FIXES
GENERAL
Audio
Fixed an issue in the Training Grounds where the Heavy Training Bot’s Shield was playing the incorrect impact effect.
Adjusted the areas in the training grounds in which the default Training Bot’s weapon fire can be heard. This should provide content creators some additional quiet areas for capturing their media.
Hero Mastery
Fixed a bug that could result in a perpetual black screen if you died to enemy damage after a course restart.
Resolved an issue that resulted in no Hero icon being shown in the Results screen during a Replay.
Resolved a bug that could result in ‘New Personal Best’ being displayed for any score.
Fixed a bug that could occur on some platforms that caused the Kill Feed and HUD to vanish if Try Again was selected.
Resolved an issue for Mercy that resulted in Healing not being displayed in the Scoring Details.
Other Fixes
Fixed a bug that would disband your group if you selected ‘Leave as Group’ in a Competitive match.
Fixed a bug in the Hero Gallery that would cause the UI to highlight another cosmetic after equipping one.
Fixed an issue that caused the achievement ‘The Friend Zone’ to not unlock on some platforms despite requirements being met.
Fixed an issue that resulted in enemy team Roles being revealed via the scoreboard in Mystery Heroes.
Fixed a bug that prevented some Player Icons from being equipped.
Fixed a bug that prevented ‘Random From Favorites’ from working during Hero Select.
Fixed a bug with AI bots picking heroes excluded in the Custom Game Settings which would result in empty slots in the match.
MAPS
Antarctic Peninsula
Fixed some areas of the map that could get players stuck.
New Junk City
Moved some environment assets from floating in one of the spawn rooms.
Route 66
Fixed an area of the map that allowed players to stand outside the intended playable space.
Samoa
Fixed some areas that had gaps that caused unintended sight lines.
Fixed some areas that allowed players to stand in unintended locations.
Fixed some areas of the map that allowed turrets to be placed outside the playable space but still attack enemies.
Fixed some areas of that map that could get players stuck.
Fixed lighting in some areas of the map.
HEROES
Illari
Fixed a bug that resulted in the ‘Daybreak’ skin displaying twice in the Skin Selection while in pre-game Hero Select.
Resolved an issue with Healing Pylon that could result in players launching out of it.
Lifeweaver
Fixed a bug that prevented Petal Platform from falling when Hacked.
Lúcio
Fixed a bug with the Hermes skin that caused the sounds played during Wallride to be louder than intended.
Mercy
Fixed an interaction with Sombra that prevented Mercy’s beams not properly fading out when applied to a Stealth Sombra.
Moira
Fixed a bug with the ‘Be Beautiful’ Highlight Intro not displaying the window behind Moira on all platforms.
Sombra
Fixed in a previous update – Resolved an issue that caused Sombra to appear untextured after interacting with Random from Favorites.
Zenyatta
Fixed an issue where sometimes Orbs of Discord and Harmony would not stay attached to the target.
Lifeweaver has been in Overwatch 2 for just under a month, and already the plant-based support hero has had some pretty significant reworks in both his control scheme and abilities. Personally, I’ve had a much better experience with the character since his last update, but it sounds like Blizzard is planning more changes as it tries to figure out where the character should fit into its popular hero shooter.
This Wacky Magical Girl Anime Is Studio Trigger-Coded To Perfection
In a new post on the Overwatch website, director Aaron Keller talked about the team’s mindset regarding Lifeweaver moving forward. While they’ve made some improvements to his healing output (he now has one of the higher ones in the game), the team says changes like tightening the spread on his offensive alt-fire Thorn Volley haven’t had much effect on his kill rate. On the bright side he also has one of the lowest death rates of any support hero, so I’m glad to hear you all took my advice and are keeping your distance from the fight.
All that said, Keller says the team is still looking to better figure out Lifeweaver’s intended role in the game, which is exactly what I’ve been trying to do since he joined the roster. Before Lifeweaver, Baptiste and Brigitte were my go-to support characters depending on my team’s makeup and the map type, but Lifeweaver feels like this very situational character that I mostly run just because he’s new, I like him as a character, and his kit is fun, rather than because his utility feels objectively better than the other options.
His abilities—like Petal Platform, which raises a player to high ground, or the controversial Life Grip, which pulls an ally to Lifeweaver’s position—are best used within a coordinated team. The trouble is, most randos online don’t understand or don’t care about how they can create effective plays, and it feels like most just want support players to act as heal bots, rather than leaning into more varied support abilities. It feels like my teammates, and sometimes myself, don’t know how to coordinate around Lifeweaver, so I can see why Blizzard hopes to make his ideal role clearer in Season 5.
Keller continued:
When it comes to future changes for Lifeweaver, here’s what we are thinking. We want it to be clearer why players may select Lifeweaver over other heroes. If your current hero pick isn’t working for some reason (whether it be the map or enemy team comp), what’s a strong incentive for swapping to Lifeweaver? We may make other changes along the way, such as lightly buffing his Thorn Volley and reducing hit volumes, but ultimately, we’ll have changes targeted at further pronouncing Lifeweaver’s strengths and clearly defining his role on your team. This could be leaning harder into his healing effectiveness through a new passive or bringing additional benefits to some of his utility-focused abilities. With a defensive-based hero, we have to be careful how far we go in terms of buffing raw healing and defensive abilities – too far can negatively disrupt the overall flow of an engagement. These are some of the early things we’re iterating through, hope to have our next set of changes ready for Season 5.
Even when Lifeweaver first debuted, I figured he would be a character that would evolve a great deal over time, similar to Symmetra, whose moveset has changed more than once since she debuted at the original Overwatch’s launch. As someone who’s already put over a dozen hours into Lifeweaver, I’m hopeful whatever changes come will help him be the effective support character everyone wants him to be, as Overwatch 2’s beleaguered support players could really use some wins.
There’s a phenomenon in the Overwatch community that has persisted through the original game’s 2016 release, its gradual decline, and the launch of the sequel. This phenomenon is an interesting one, a sort of “IYKYK” situation that requires membership in a specific community in order to recognize its members: in Overwatch, a lot of queer players choose to play as healers. Maybe you haven’t noticed this—maybe you’re straight (I’m sorry) and can’t spot an alphabet army soldier in your lobby, but if you’re in the LGBTQIA+ community and play Overwatch 2, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Mercy mains with rainbow player icons, Moira one-tricks wearing her Bowie skin, two-stacks who instalock support with some iteration of “-ussy” in their gamertag—if you pay attention, you’ll see that the gays are everywhere in Overwatch, and most of the time they’re playing healer.
But this is all anecdotal evidence, right? Surely gays don’t gravitate to playing healers that disproportionately, do they? After hundreds of hours logged in Overwatch 2 comp , most of which I played as a healer, I felt a burning desire to delve deeper into this phenomenon and figure out why I kept encountering fellow gays in the support role. I had my theories: queer people are used to supporting their found families in the real world, support roles are notoriously less toxic, many of the healer characters are femme or androgynous—but I needed more.
So, I put out a call for “gay people” on Twitter, I interviewed players and peers, and I spoke to a queer-identifying counselor, all in an attempt to properly investigate Overwatch’s gay healing agenda. The result is a fascinating look at a subculture within a subculture, one marked by real-world social queues, kink play, emotional connections, and, unfortunately, a frustrating lack of scientific research.
Gay icons
Image: Blizzard / Nico D.
The most obvious answer (and one of the more common ones I received on Twitter) as to why queer people play healers in Overwatch is that the characters themselves are gay icons. Even though the only two openly queer characters are both DPS heroes, the lineup of support characters looks a lot like the line outside of Happyfun Hideaway on a Saturday night: the uber-feminine and soft Mercy, the muscular and bold Brigitte, the sweet but strong Baptiste, the spunky and sarcastic Kiriko, the calm and collected Zenyatta, the androgynous and tall Moira, the soothing and maturely sexy Ana. Compared to your typical FPS lineup, and even most of the other Overwatch characters (save for outliers like Zarya and Mei), the support squad in this game feels demonstrably queer.
Overwatch player and freelance writer Nico D. echoes this sentiment via email, saying the characters “are designed in such a way to be desirable to queer communities—Moira is a REALLY good example of this, but I also know a lot of queer women or other queer people who are attracted to women that love Mercy, Ana, and Brig.” Nico suggests this has to do with the futuristic, sci-fi fashions depicted in the game “that also happen to be on characters with typically queer-coded appearances like slightly more atypical body types/silhouettes/haircuts.”
That definitely describes most Overwatch support heroes. And though Mercy is slim and white and traditionally attractive (Blizzard does, after all, historically have a problem with portraying women’s bodies), she still doesn’t feel as aggressively sexualized as someone like Widowmaker, whose impossibly long legs and massive tits scream The Male Gaze everytime she runs (in heels) across the screen.
Others who identify as queer and play Overwatch predominantly as healers tell me that the support characters are “gay icons” whose presence/vibes suggest queerness even though it’s not outright stated. “They feel queer” is a sentiment that, while scientifically impossible to prove, is consistently echoed in both messages to me and Overwatch community spaces. But “feeling queer” is a helluva lot different than being canonically queer—so why doesn’t it seem like members of the community play Tracer and Soldier: 76 as much as they play healers?
Gender roles
Image: Blizzard
Venture into the Reddit or TikTok trenches in search of an answer as to why gay people play healers and you’ll likely stumble across the “I can’t aim” meme. Like many internet fables, this one is somewhat rooted in reality. Evie Mae Barber, writer and narrative designer, tells me via Twitter DM that when she played Overwatch, she mained Lucio and Mercy because she finds healers in FPS titles “require less precision and more strategy,” whereas the DPS characters’ effectiveness are largely rooted in accuracy.
A desire to avoid roles that require accuracy could be a side effect of traditional multiplayer FPS titles being largely unsafe spaces for women and non cis-het men—it’s hard to feel comfortable or competent in these roles when the skills you need to excel at them should have been honed in the dark and scary servers of Halo 3 or CS:GO, during a time when the mere hint of “otherness” was met with viciousness, slurs, and threats.
The boys’ club of FPS titles may not exist in such severity today as it did in the early 2000s, but its effects linger. “There was a meta-analysis done that had several results, specifically about Overwatch,” says Dr. Sarah Hays, a queer-identifying counselor at nonprofit org Game to Grow and director of programming at Queer Women of Esports, during a video call. “Of course, it was on a gender binary, but male esports competitors are seen as more competitive than female competitors. Female players believe support to be the easiest position to play and prefer to play it because they don’t want to be blamed for not doing well.” She pauses. “That meta study has a whole bunch of data. I just hate that it’s done on a gender binary.”
It’s clear that the lack of adequate research around LGBTQIA+ gamers and the roles they choose to inhabit in multiplayer titles frustrates Dr. Hays. “My plea is: ‘people, let’s do research on this because it’s so cool,’” she says earnestly before returning to the meta study, combing through it to try and find some more connections to the theory at hand: “Non male-identified people tend towards picking a character that they can feel confident in. So they reduce harassment and they reduce some of that input. ‘It’s easier to play support because I’m not getting as much shit, I’m not getting blamed for that.’ That’s something we’re seeing both based in research and generally: people want to look and appear and feel like they know what they’re doing, so they’re not going to receive flack for being another ignorant non-dude. Which sucks. But it’s true.”
Dr. Hays doesn’t say this word during our chat, but it lingers overhead: toxicity. “I think queer folks trend toward support as it feels like the least toxic role or at least one that has less toxicity associated with them,” says Threshold Games’ community manager Colin Cummings in a DM. So, part of the reason queer-identiying gamers may be choosing healers is to avoid the rampant toxicity that comes with playing competitive FPS games. But how much do real-world experiences outside of gaming tie into choosing the support role?
Support systems
Image: Blizzard / Nico D.
I’m pleased when one of my theories is echoed by a few fellow healers: queer people, so often forced to protect themselves because the government won’t protect them, so connected to found families made up of supportive friends, would naturally gravitate towards characters who provide safety and security.
“I don’t think that it’s a far stretch to imagine that the fantasy of support or healers is appealing to groups of people who require communities around them for safety and affection,” Nico writes.
When I mention my theory in a DM with Eric Ravenscraft, product writer and reviewer at Wired, he’s on board, too. “Honestly, that wouldn’t surprise me too much,” he writes. “Support is very much herding cats, keeping your precious babies alive while they’re getting chased down by a mean dude with a hammer…most of the LGBTQIA+ folks I know live in a very found-family kinda space that becomes very protective of outside threats. Every single person I know in that space knows what it’s like to protect their friends—or even randos—from a bigoted parent or institution or whathaveyou. That kinda mindset maps pretty cleanly onto keeping four randos you just met safe online.”
This social connection between support roles IRL and in Overwatch is something Dr. Hays “loves” during our chat—it clearly sparks her interest, and I can see her cogs turning on our video chat as she begins pondering the larger ramifications of this idea. “I wonder if there isn’t a correlation between oppressed identity and feeling better as a person in the position of healer, because it means that you get to avoid the blame, but also you get to be reinforced as someone who’s helpful and supportive, and more effective in that role? Yeah, because of the way that our real-life experiences have catered to that, as well.”
While Dr. Hays is clearly inspired by these ideas, she reiterates that there’s just not enough research about this kind of stuff to provide us with much concrete evidence. She does, however, bring up a scientific study that leaves my jaw on the floor.
Piss play
I have used this image three times on Kotaku.com.Image: Blizzard / Kotaku
When I wrote about how Overwatch 2’s shorthand is a specific brand of twisted, the slang term for Moira’s healing (pee) was at the top of my mind. So when Dr. Hays starts talking about a scientific study about Overwatch’s “healsluts,” I am, as the kids say, gagged—the connections are there, drawn together by queer players who are, in fact, little freaks.
Assuming the role of a healslut, according to the study from Finnish academic journal Widerscreen, “[invites] players to deploy elements of BDSM kink and sexuality not merely within the vocabulary and design of the game, but also in a communal paratext surrounding the game involving forums, voice chat, and viral fan-designed images.” Kotaku already wrote about this kinky phenomenon almost eight years ago—a r/healslut moderator toldwriter Luke Winkie that healsluts take classic dominant and submissive roles that are synonymous with traditional BDSM and apply it to the roles laid out in Overwatch.
The tank (dom) protects and compliments the healers (subs), occasionally scolding them if they fail. Healsluts have one main duty, and it’s to protect their doms (DPS characters are considered darker, more violent versions of tanks, which makes sense if you’ve ever tried to pocket heal a Genji). Though much of the writing about this community was published several years ago, I can confirm that r/healsluts is still an active subreddit.
In many cases, the Venn diagram of kink and queer communities is a circle, with kink playing an important role in Pride events and in the history and legacy of LGBTQIA+ people. Kink play in Overwatch is a “a way for resisting ‘masculine-normative hegemonic fandom’ in video games,” according to the aforementioned study, and it persists even after Overwatch 1 was sunset in place of a free-to-play sequel.
So whether it’s because of cishet-y FPS pressure making support a more attractive role, social roles within found families that translate to games, the indefinable but still somewhat tangible queerness of the healer characters, or a preternatural need to heal big, dommy tanks, it’s very clear that there are a lot of LGBTQIA+ people playing support in Overwatch 2.
I could happily unpack this phenomenon in another 2,000 words, but maybe I should just leave it at what Kaitlin Jakola, managing editor at The Trace and former Gizmodo employee, had to say about it:
“I assume we all heal because gays love to be both extremely powerful and woefully unappreciated in our own time????” Work, bestie.
This left arm of mine? Yeah, it’s indestructible.Screenshot: Blizzard
Overwatch 2 continues to incur issue after issue, with the latest problem leaving the icy damage dealer Mei totally unplayable due to a “critical issue” with her Ice Wall ability. Well, Blizzard may also want to investigate the hero shooter’s newest support character, Kiriko, as it appears she can block headshot damage by simply [checks notes] staring up at the sky.
Kiriko is a kunai-wielding ninja healer who leaked at the beginning of September. Previously locked behind Overwatch 2‘s battle pass, Blizzard has since opted to give the kunoichi away for free following some rather uproarious criticism of the developer’s initial decision. Though she’s a pretty squishy hero, with only 200 health points, she can deal some solid damage and has a kit perfectly suited to buffing her teammates. In other words, she isn’t as passive a healer as, say, Baptiste or Mercy, but you probably don’t want her charging the enemy frontline like Brigitte or Zenyatta either. However, that might change considering an exploit discovered by Twitch streamer Flats.
A partner of the Overwatch League’s Florida Mayhem, Flats tweeted a video on November 15 of Kiriko blocking headshot damage with her arm by looking up at the sun. Flats shot at an opposing Kiriko a few times with Widowmaker, only for the bullets to merely graze the ninja’s seemingly indestructible arm, allowing her to immediately heal back up. Flats eventually murked Kiriko with a single headshot, but only after positioning himself at just the right angle, saying you “have to get behind” Kiriko to “shoot the back of her head.” Who knew that staring up at the sky could save you from death?
What’s appears to be happening here is that, when she looks up, Kiriko’s arm gets in the way of her dome’s hitbox, impacting the damage she takes from headshots. In response to Flat’s tweet, one Twitter user noted that Mercy was able to do the same thing, but only when casting her Resurrect ultimate ability, which sees her raise her arm in the air to revive a dead teammate.
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Kotaku has reached out to Blizzard and Flats for comment.
