Many fans of Overwatch currently wish to help during a major disaster. They are requesting special skins to send donations through this charity action.
This is what the players demand: In a post on reddit, user WippitGuud is asking Blizzard to provide special charity skins for Junkrat and Roadhog. These should then only be available for purchase with real money.
With the skins, the players want to encourage more people to support the cause. Instead of just donating, they would get something in return. This might provide a greater incentive to help.
The post has over 64,000 upvotes and players even request support in the official forum. Fans of Apex Legends have also joined the cause:
What is the aid for? The money raised is intended to help Australia. Recently, several bushfires and wildfires have caused one of the country’s largest disasters.
The fires have devastated large areas of wilderness and completely destroyed the habitats of many animals. As tagesschau reports, since October, three firefighters have already lost their lives fighting the fire.
Charity skins are a big success
This is how successful it has been so far: The action would not be the first of its kind. Blizzard has previously released a pink Mercy skin to help with breast cancer awareness. The skin was fixed at 15 euros in Germany.
The skin raised a total of 12.7 million dollars, which was allocated to various initiatives. Blizzard supported studies, preventive measures, and even scholarships for aspiring physicians.
Blizzard regularly champions good causes in other games as well. For instance, at the end of 2019, a pet alpaca was released in World of Warcraft for 10 euros. 50% of the proceeds went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and WE.org.
Why would this work in Overwatch? The world of Overwatch features many characters of various origins. Two of the heroes come from Australia: Junkrat and Roadhog.
It would be quite fitting to give charity skins to these two. The fans even have ideas:
- Junkrat could have water in his grenades
- His ultimate, the tire, could be powered by fire extinguishers
- Roadhog’s hook could turn into a fire hose – he already wears a gas mask
The skins would also match the already crazy and outrageous behavior of the two. Additionally, buyers could even carry the skins over to Overwatch 2:
