Blizzard will no longer release MVP skins for the best players in Overwatch starting in 2022. This follows Blizzard’s removal of all mentions of the last MVP skin a few weeks ago. An ex-girlfriend had made allegations of sexual harassment against the 2019 MVP of the Overwatch League, Jay “Sinatraa” Won.
What are MVP skins? In eSports titles like LoL, it is common for outstanding players who have won a title to be honored with a “personal skin.”
Designers sit down and develop an elaborate skin for the hero for which the honored player is particularly known. For his “signature hero.” The skin then appears on the market and can be purchased freely by anyone.
This is a great honor for players, who thus become “part of the game.” In League of Legends, there has been speculation long before the skin’s release about which player wants which skin.
Blizzard has adopted this “MVP skin” tradition for its Overwatch League. This is a matter of prestige.
In Overwatch, the 2018 MVP, Sung-hyeon “JJoNak” Bang, received a special skin for Zenyatta and the 2019 MVP Jay “Sinatraa” Won received his skin for Zarya.
2021 is the last year skins for MVPs in Overwatch
This is the news from Blizzard: Blizzard has now introduced two special Overwatch skins:
- A skin for Echo in honor of the MVP of the Overwatch League 2020 Byung-sun “Fleta” Kim. The “Good vs. Evil” skin aims to illustrate how flexible Fleta plays with its two sides.
- There is a new skin for Roadhog in honor of the San Francisco Shock team, which became champions for the second time in the league in 2020.
The amazing news is: players should not miss the MVP skin, as this would be the last time a skin for the MVP of the Overwatch League is created.
Blizzard removes all references to the 2019 MVP Sinatraa’s skin
What is the reason for this? Blizzard does not provide an official reason. However, it seems that it arises from the circumstances surrounding the 2019 MVP Jay “Sinatraa” Won:
- He received his skin for Zarya in 2020, but had already left Overwatch to continue in Valorant, because he expected to make more money from that.
- Additionally, allegations from an ex-girlfriend emerged claiming Sinatraa had emotionally manipulated and sexually abused her during the relationship.
After the allegations of sexual abuse, Blizzard offered to buy back the skins from all players who owned Sinatraa’s skin and refund them their expenses. Furthermore, Blizzard has set the video of the skin to private, deleted tweets, and has apparently removed other references to the skin from Overwatch’s websites.
It is quite possible that Blizzard is now removing the “MVP” skins to avoid getting into such a situation in the future where they have to distance themselves from a player:
Blizzard distances itself from the former best Overwatch player in the world
