Overwatch made big headlines in 2016, but what were they again? Check out a little recap here.
Let’s turn back time a bit and remember what happened in Overwatch in 2016. Overwatch took the market by storm and sold over 20 million copies in the first 5 months after its release. Already in the beta, Overwatch had over 8 million active players who were very excited about Blizzard’s new action shooter.
But let’s start with this news overview of 2016 from the beginning.
A new Blizzard title is here: Overwatch was released in 2016
On May 24, 2016, Overwatch was released at 1:00 AM. That’s right, for just half a year, Overwatch has been shaking things up and has generated quite a few headlines since then. Blizzard started releasing animated shorts even before Overwatch was on the market and generated a lot of hype with them.
Cortyn was live for you to report on the Overwatch release. At the start, there were a few minor server issues that Blizzard quickly handled. Overall, the release went smoothly, and the servers held up well against the influx of players.
Tracer’s Butt: What was that again about the sexy victory pose?
Overwatch had already caused a lot of excitement on the internet before its release, and the culprit was Tracer’s butt! Well, it was more about a victory pose that overly emphasized her butt for some fans.
In the official Overwatch forum, fans complained in March 2016 that this pose was too sexual. Tracer’s butt was too prominently featured, making her a sex object. The result: Blizzard removed the sexy butt pose from the game.
After that, the discussion continued about whether Blizzard should listen to a few angry fans and adjust their game according to their wishes. You just can’t please everyone.
World Cup 2016: Overwatch had its first eSports event
At BlizzCon in November 2016, Overwatch held its first eSports World Championships. I followed the qualifying matches with great excitement, in which Germany performed very well, by the way. The finale between South Korea and Russia was rather boring, and South Korea won the World Cup 2016 with ease.
At BlizzCon, the Overwatch League was announced: an eSports system that aims to offer players fixed contracts with a salary and more benefits.
The Hunt for Sombra: When will she finally come to the game?
At BlizzCon, not only did Overwatch’s first World Championship take place, but Sombra finally made it into the game. Blizzard held a huge scavenger hunt around the hacker and fed fans with bits of new information about Sombra here and there.
This scavenger hunt took Blizzard months. This went too far for our Cortyn and many fans at the time, and the fuss around Sombra made it into Cortyn’s Mecker-Mittwoch.
Game of the Year 2016: Overwatch wins award
On December 2, the Game Awards 2016 took place, and Overwatch won the “Game of the Year 2016” award. In addition to this honor, Overwatch also received awards for Best Multiplayer and eSports Game and Best Game Direction.
Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan emphasized during his acceptance speech that Overwatch aims to convey a message about diversity and a bright, positive future.
Diverse Characters: Everyone should find themselves in Overwatch
At BlizzCon 2016, Blizzard announced during an open Q&A session that there is also a gay hero in Overwatch. This led to a lot of speculation among fans for weeks.
There was wild speculation online about who it could be. With this, Blizzard is further pursuing its goal of creating a diverse universe in which everyone can find themselves. On December 20, 2016, it was revealed through a Christmas comic that the first gay heroine is Tracer.
In the comic, many Overwatch heroes were shown celebrating Christmas and Tracer’s girlfriend Emily was introduced. Through comics and movies, the backstories and personalities of the heroes should be further highlighted.
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In a short time, Overwatch has managed to become one of the most popular games in 2016 and sparked many discussions. I am already excited to see what 2017 will bring and whether Blizzard can maintain the high standards. I particularly look forward to more background stories of the heroes and the Overwatch League.
We will show you more interesting news from 2016 here:
