Overwatch

Players Are Creating Amazing Things With Overwatch’s New Workshop Tools

Earlier this week, Blizzard added a Workshop to Overwatch that makes it possible to modify in-game scripts to create all sorts of new custom modes. Players have wasted no time in doing some really cool stuff with it. When Blizzard announced the Overwatch Workshop on Wednesday, it led with the example of a level inspired…

Overwatch is getting a “workshop” mode, which will certainly make the custom mode’s sexy role-play community happy. On the PTR, players can make text and rule scripts and add custom play conditions for game modes, like changing heroes’ movement or abilities. Cutely, Blizzard suggests trying out “floor is lava.”

Overwatch Has Had A Black Female Character ‘In Development’ For Four Years

During a livestream last week, Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan revealed that the team has actually had a black female character that’s been part of the game’s lore since around 2014. Fans are wondering why she still isn’t playable. Last week, Overwatch streamer Fareeha held a stream at Blizzard HQ, during which Kaplan dropped in.…

Overwatch’s next map will be Havana. If you’ve played the new Storm Rising co-op mission, you’ve already gotten a taste of the upcoming Cuban map. The regular game version of it will be an assault map, meaning there’ll be a payload for you to push while your teammates run in circles or shoot the ground…

Dear Overwatch, Let Me Ride The Motorcycle

Earlier this week, when Blizzard introduced Overwatch’s latest co-op mission, Storm Rising, the teaser trailer featured Tracer on a motorcycle. It was accompanied by the tagline “Chase the truth.” When I logged in to try out the mission today, I was immediately greeted by a screen of Tracer on a motorcycle. I started the mission.…

Overwatch League Player Fined One Month’s Salary For Inappropriate Comment To Streamer

An Overwatch League player who told a 17-year-old streamer that she was his teammate’s “second wife” has been fined one month’s salary and denied a bonus payment, his team announced today. The streamer in question was Aspen, a successful Overwatch player who is partnered with esports organization Cloud 9. During a match streamed on Aspen’s…

Four Players Have Quit Overwatch League In The Last Two Weeks

Expansion teams and new meta aside, Overwatch League season two has felt, for the most part, like business as usual. Behind the scenes, however, teams continue to practice, scrimmage, and prepare rigorously, all while planning for a third season in which they’ll move to their respective cities all across the world. It appears to be…

 Blizzard says it is bringing back Overwatch’s seasonal co-op event with Storm Rising, an all-new story mission about Overwatch’s pursuit of the Omnic Talon boss, Maximilien. With Storm Rising, the previous two Overwatch Archives events (Uprising and Retribution) will also be repayable, with “more than 160 cosmetic items” in seasonal loot boxes.

Fan-Made Overwatch Mode Makes Players Rely On Each Other To See

Overwatch is a game where visual language is paramount to keep the fast-moving action readable. Characters, for example, are designed so that their unique silhouettes are eye-popping even from far away. It also helps to be able to see anything literally at all—something you really come to appreciate when 90 percent of the screen is…

Overwatch Pro Blocks Racist Message With His Own Face During Stream

During a recent stream, New York Excelsior Overwatch player and impossibly pleasant married person Jong-ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park came up against a particularly unpleasant foe. Another player decided to use Overwatch’s in-game notification system to spam Saebyeolbe with a racist message he couldn’t immediately block. The racist assbag in question continuously sent Saebyeolbe friend requests using…

Popular Overwatch League Player Quits After Just One Month To Resume Streaming Career

Overwatch League has plenty of astoundingly skilled players, but very few stars whose popularity transcends the game’s still relatively niche esports scene. Now it’s time to mark another burgeoning name off the list, because Atlanta Reign’s Daniel “Dafran” Francesca has quit after just one month of play during his debut season. Dafran, a controversy-prone player…

Overwatch League’s Stage One Finals Gave Us The Wildest Game Of The Season So Far

Every now and then, in competitive games, there are matches where it feels like nobody lost. Yes, San Francisco Shock fell agonizingly short of dethroning the season two heirs apparent the Vancouver Titans. And yeah, they failed to snag $200,000 in bonus cash, having to settle for a second-place prize of half that. But both…

Overwatch Competition Is Pushing Cosplay To Its Limits

There’s currently an international cosplay battle going on between Overwatch fans, and the results are out of this world. It’s a genuine competition, put on by Blizzard, and there are six teams–each of them featuring some of the world’s finest cosplayers and prop builders–from across Europe competing. The victors will be announced on March 26…

Blizzard Says Overwatch Toxicity Is Down 40 Percent

Not so long ago, Overwatch was a poster child for toxicity run rampant in competitive multiplayer games. People regularly trolled and spewed vitriol while a barebones report system did little to stem the tide. Oh, what a difference a couple years (and a smartly implemented endorsement system) makes. Overwatch, like pretty much all competitive games,…

Overwatch League Teams Share Plans And Concerns About Moving To Their Home Cities In 2020

After two seasons of living and playing in and around Burbank, California, Overwatch League teams will finally be moving to their respective cities next year. Players and coaches have told Kotaku that they’ve been grappling with planning for these moves for a while, particularly with respect to players’ already grueling practice schedules. Overwatch League commissioner…

Overwatch’s newest hero, combat medic Baptiste, is coming to live servers on March 19. He’ll presumably be accompanied by a slew of balance changes Blizzard has been testing, meaning that we could be looking at a big shake up to the game’s meta. Or not! We’ll find out next week.

When An Overwatch Voice Actor Cosplays As Her Character

Actor Carolina Ravassa has been doing video game work for years now, appearing in everything from Grand Theft Auto V to Max Payne 3 to Just Cause 4. But her most famous role is that of Sombra in Overwatch, one she’s now playing in real life as well as the recording studio. At Katsucon earlier…

Some Of Overwatch League’s Best 2018 Teams Are Getting Trounced In 2019

When the first season of Overwatch League came to a close, there was a compelling argument to be made that Los Angeles Valiant could have made the finals and even won the whole dang season if things had just gone a little more their way in key matches. This season, they’ve yet to win a…

How A Joke About An Overwatch League Pro Driving A Bus Spiraled Out Of Control

Esports professionals get to play video games for a living, but a job’s a job. Many players pour countless grueling hours into practice and preparation, not to mention actual matches and events. That’s why fans did a collective double take when, during season one of Overwatch League, rumors began to circulate that a Florida Mayhem…

Baptiste Is Fun To Play, But He Probably Won’t Shake Up Overwatch Just Yet

Shortly after Overwatch’s newest hero, Baptiste, was announced, I started seeing Blizzard devs position the Haitian combat medic as a counter to GOATS, the game’s unpopular defense-oriented meta. “Alright,” I said to myself. “This seems promising.” But then I played him, and now I have mixed feelings. Overwatch’s current meta is heavily reliant on heroes…