Overwatch has had a complicated history with queer representation and its characters. But Overwatch 2 looks to course correct on many of these issues with a new Pride Month celebration, offering players tons of new pride-themed cosmetics as well as a redecorating of the New York-inspired Midtown map. Additionally, the writers have cooked up a cute new short story featuring Pharah and Baptiste, who were recently revealed to be lesbian and bisexual respectively.
This is Overwatch 2‘s first official in-game Pride celebration, both in its current iteration and the original Overwatch game. The Overwatch 2 team has set up some fun events for players to participate in during the month of June, featuring new Pride cosmetics that will automatically be added to all players’ accounts on June 1. These cosmetics include Player Icons themed to numerous different LGBTQ+ flags and name cards, including special name cards for Pharah, Baptiste, Lifeweaver, Tracer, and Soldier: 76. Players will also get a new spray featuring Tracer and her girlfriend, Lena.
Celebrate Pride month in Overwatch 2
The Overwatch 2 dev team set out to celebrate the diversity of all the characters in the game, as well as the community itself with this new Pride event. Blizzard also released a short story featuring Baptiste and Pharah entitled “As You Are,” which features the pair exploring their identities. These are the only two new confirmed LGBTQ+ characters for now, but anyone with a pulse probably knows Mercy has an eye out on her favorite pocket hero. The team also will update the Midtown map inspired by the original Stonewall riots following a special Pride parade.
Image by Blizzard
As for why the team waited so long, here’s a message straight from the official dev blog:
“For those wondering ‘why now’: we love our characters and their lore, and in expanding the OW2 experience to include the upcoming PvE lore, we realized how much more we can do in exploring our character identities and relationships. With our first Overwatch 2 Pride event, we knew that we wanted to celebrate the diversity that makes the world worth fighting for. This is just the beginning of Pride in Overwatch 2.”
Overwatch 2’s first Pride event starts on June 1. The team has also set up a range of Pride-themed apparel, with “net proceeds being donated to the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE).”
