Blogs
on February 10, 2026
Of course, we had awesome women like Mei and Zarya amongst the cast, but there was D.Va, Tracer, and Widowmaker strutting their stuff alongside them. Overwatch was a real sticking point in our development as horny gamers, and a willingness to embrace sexuality in our games and view it as something to no longer be ashamed of. Overwatch was a stepping stone to this point, but a stone covered with the slippery moss of the mid ‘10s Whedonised feminism, where the best way to make a female character strong was to make her sexy too. Putting aside the smut, I was invested in some of the game’s queer ships for years, whether it be through tasteful fanart or brilliantly written fiction that understood these characters better than Blizzard ever will. Pharmercy till I die. You know Overwatch was something special because it made you care, and the relative indifference from Blizzard in the years since is almost upsetting.
We also need to talk about loot boxes, since Overwatch was responsible for increasing their popularity outside the mobile space. Ultimate Team was already a thing, but Blizzard showcased how easily cosmetic items could be monetised through random packages of goodies earned by either levelling up or buying them outright. I had friends who would set aside entire evenings during seasonal events to grind for boxes, hoping that Blizzard would be kind enough to let a legendary skin fall into their laps. None of them were playing for fun, instead waiting for that brief hit of serotonin that comes with a rare drop. Or they could spend money, and as the profits have long shown, so many of us went and did just that.
What Overwatch really needed was the same thing that every live-service game needs: content. While development of Overwatch 2 caused a lengthy drought in the original, Overwatch 2 News wasn’t exactly on par with the rest of the live service game market either. A new hero every few months and a rehashed holiday event just weren’t cutting it. There’s a lot of people moaning about the new seasonal model in Overwatch 2, but if they were being honest, most of them would admit Overwatch wasn’t holding their attention. The luster fell off Overwatch after a couple of years, and the quarterly cadence of a new hero or map was not going to keep Overwatch al
Don’t get me wrong - I don’t mind that there’s an Overwatch 2. Hell, I don’t even give a shit that it’s a free-to-play nightmare that’s going to be dominated by kids with rich parents. I work in show business - the entire world is dominated by kids with rich parents. And I respect that in order to keep their esports racket fresh, Blizzard creates new Overwatch content just like how their professional players create new racial slurs.
Overwatch 2 was announced much too early, likely to pave over controversy at the time surrounding the company and its many scandals. We were given an awkward glimpse at PvE content that wasn’t ready for the spotlight in the slightest, while progression systems linked to certain characters have been dumped entirely in the version coming next month. Blizzard didn’t know what it wanted the sequel to be, and it still doesn’t, so we are stepping hesitantly into a future where I desperately hope this hero shooter can earn its place. The original game is being shut down as it arrives, with its younger sibling intended to replace everything it stood for as heroes, cosmetics, and everything else is carried across as part of a hopefully seamless transition. I’ll miss what is being left behind, and so will many others.
Last week, a YouTuber called Graslu00 uploaded footage from a canceled GoldenEye 007 remaster on the Xbox 360. The game was developed in 2007, but according to the Xbox boss Phil Spencer, became locked in a complicated legal limbo over the rights to James Bond. Between Microsoft, Nintendo, and EON (the owners of the James Bond license), it was simply too difficult to come to an agreement on business terms, and the game was eventually shelved. Graslu00, whose video shows the game in its entirety, was cagey on where the new footage came from, saying only "patience is k
To truly make Overwatch 2 shine through as a true, distinct sequel, it would be nice to see an entire batch of new recruits to the Overwatch and/or Blackwatch squad. Perhaps we could at least kick things off with a couple of heroes that cover each of the 3 major categories - DPS, tank, and supp
Like many of you, I enjoyed Overwatch , a video game that I purchased with human money. In fact, because I thought Overwatch would continue to exist, I bought it on more than one platform. I’m not right in the head sometimes, so I actually believed that by purchasing a video game on a physical disc, I would get to play it for a while. I figured I had years to enjoy being a D-level Mercy failing to heal teammates who lowkey hated me.