Overwatch 2 has a lot of heroes on its roster. With Juno, the Martian support character joining the game in season 12, the hero shooter now has 41 different heroes for players to choose from. Spreading the love equally between all of them as far as skins and other cosmetics go is a tall order, one that would be unreasonable to expect. However, as Overwatch 2 approaches its second anniversary, the community is getting increasingly more frustrated with Blizzard, as the developer continues to to prioritize certain heroes each season with new cosmetics while others are left with crumbs—if they even get anything at all.
Venture, the 40th hero added to Overwatch 2, has been the center point in these conversations after they received no Legendary skins since joining the roster in April. Fans of the non-binary damage hero even put a slideshow of the character on a Times Square billboard to give them some much-deserved recognition, but Blizzard still hasn’t given them much in the way of cosmetics. Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller addressed this criticism in a tweet, confirming Venture has “a really exciting skin” coming in season 14, which would be four seasons after their debut. So while an incoming skin is something, it draws attention to how other characters get what feels like preferential treatment from the development team. It’s clear from the responses to Keller’s statement that fans are not happy with the wait.
For some, Kiriko, the first support hero who was added to Overwatch 2’s roster in 2022, has been the face of this problem. She’s been present for 12 seasons and has received 14 skins, which is the highest of any of the new heroes added in Overwatch 2. Mercy, who has been in the game since the original’s launch, has also been a contentious character as far as skin favoritism goes, especially as she’s been a face of Overwatch giving heroes outfits based on other cultures while characters who originate in those cultures go without. Both of these characters are receiving new skins in season 12 while heroes like Venture aren’t.
Season 12 has been especially thorny, as its Egyptian-themed battle pass left some heroes wanting, despite them having stronger ties to the mythology than ones who were heavily featured. Reaper is getting this season’s customizable mythic skin that dresses him up as Anubis, the Egyptian god of funerary rites, a sensible connection considering Reaper’s ties to death. However, Ramattra, the synthetic omnic tank, and his Null Sector faction were originally based on Egyptian mythology in early designs. There’s even concept art of the character with a sand-like motif that was scrapped, but could have made for an appropriate mythic skin. To the studio’s credit, the actual Egyptian heroes, Ana and Pharah, are getting a fancy mythic weapon and a store skin respectively, but Reaper’smythic skin stings for Ramattra fans who have received only a paltry skin selection since the tank was added. They’re coping with fan art of what the Ramattra Anubis skin could have looked like.
As a person who spreads his Overwatch 2 time across multiple heroes, I tend to have at least one of my favorites featured in each season. But the direct comparisons between characters like Kiriko and Mercy, who consistently get top-tier cosmetics, and Venture, who has received nothing since launch and won’t for several seasons, highlights the gulf between heroes.
