'Sexy' pose removed from Overwatch game after fans complain

[dutchman]

Developer Blizzard agrees scene in which female provocatively directs rear towards camera is inconsistent with her character



The game developer Blizzard has altered a sequence in the forthcoming shooter Overwatch after fans complained that it needlessly sexualised a female character.

In the contentious moment, a character named Tracer adopts a victory pose in which her rear is directed provocatively toward the camera. One player argued on the game’s official forum that the pose is inconsistent with her character, as established in the game’s publicity and narrative.

“This isn’t a character who is in part defined by flaunting her sexuality,” wrote the player, known only by his forum handle, Fipps. “This pose says to the player base, oh we’ve got all these cool diverse characters, but at any moment we are willing to reduce them to sex symbols to help boost our investment game.”

Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan responded to the complaint, seemingly acknowledging that the pose was an error. He told readers: “We’ll replace the pose. We want *everyone* to feel strong and heroic in our community. The last thing we want to do is make someone feel uncomfortable, under-appreciated or misrepresented.”

This in turn sparked objections from some gamers, with many accusing Kaplan and Blizzard of censorship. Kaplan said: “We weren’t entirely happy with the original pose, it was always one that we wrestled with creatively. That the pose had been called into question from an appropriateness standpoint by players in our community did help influence our decision – getting that kind of feedback is part of the reason we’re holding a closed beta test – but it wasn’t the only factor.

“We made the decision to go with a different pose in part because we shared some of the same concerns, but also because we wanted to create something better.”

The removal of sexualised themes and imagery from video games has become a hot topic in the industry. Nintendo last year altered the clothing of one female character in the western release of the role-playing title Xenoblade Chronicle X, and Capcom was accused of toning down suggestive poses in Street Fighter V for western audiences. Japanese publishers have a long history of altering content in localised versions of their games.

Overwatch, which is in a beta testing process, giving a small audience of players early access to the code, has several other female characters. These include Widowmaker, who has retained her overtly sexualised imagery and stances.