Overwatch Developers Respond Following Backlash Over Pride Content - Or Lack Of
Pride month has given a large selection of the gaming community ample opportunity to express themselves, with many developers dropping a range of rainbow-themed cosmetic items into their titles.
Although certain titles have taken advantage of the movement to rack up a colourful bag of cash, others have been more supportive of the LGBTQ+ communities by granting free items to all players. The likes of Apex Legends have presented free emblems to their players, whilst Call of Duty: Warzone introduced eight Pride calling cards, all without a price tag.
Despite Activision being praised for their additions in their global battle royale phenomenon, their Blizzard branch has been under fire, after they secretly slipped a simplistic rainbow icon into Overwatch, without any advertisement or notice - players wouldn't know it was there unless they tripped over it during a random scroll.
Blizzard Confirms No More Pride Items To Come This Month
Fans of Overwatch have now taken to all forms of social media platforms to express their displeasure at the secret addition, calling for more items and acknowledgement, including skins for their two canonically gay heroes: Tracer and Soldier 76.
However, it appears they will be waiting much longer, as the developers have now spoken, and confirmed that they have no intentions of adding anything extra, yet.
A Blizzard Spokesman told Vice that “Throughout Overwatch’s history we’ve shown a commitment to diversity, inclusion and LGBTQIA+ support through our characters, lore and hopeful world.
"While we don’t have plans for additional Pride content for Overwatch at this time, we’ll continue to create new content and tell stories that reflect LGBTQIA+ experiences across Blizzard’s universes.”
Blizzard Respond To Pride Backlash
The same spokesperson then continued to defend their acknowledgement and support of their pride community, saying: "The Rainbow player icon was added as a way for the LGBTQIA+ community and allies to show their pride in-game.
"We consulted with a representative group of employees and chose Rainbow to reflect the globally recognizable colours that stand as a symbol for the LGBTQIA+ community around the world.
They finally added: "we’re proud to celebrate the month alongside the LGBTQIA+ community in-game and out,” although many fans remain dumbfounded at their menial efforts.
Much of the backlash has been hurled at Blizzard as they unveiled their Ashe's Deadlock event, claiming that they clearly have the manpower spared from the Overwatch 2 efforts to create an in-game event, so why not a further effort to increase Pride awareness.
As the Overwatch 2 development continues to stir, perhaps Blizzard may look towards a better representation of the LGBTQ+ community.
