Blizzard Entertainment announced a new franchise called Overwatch, a team-based multiplayer shooter with Pixar-like graphics that will enter beta in 2015. What makes it different from the rest? The characters. While Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed feature serious adults playing big bloody games, Overwatch consists of a community of cartoonish characters with a sprinkling of happy, excited kids. Don’t get us wrong, there are a couple buxom nefarious-looking female characters including Widowmaker, an assassin who shows no emotion. But for the most part, the characters are more friendly than sexy.
“We love Toy Story as much as we love Aliens. Yet when it comes to games, we usually only get the latter,” wrote Luke Plunkett at Kotaku. With the Gamergate controversy in the news – concerns of misogyny and harassment in the video game culture – the trailer of Overwatch has many in the industry seeing light at the end of this ugly misogynist tunnel.
