Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: activision blizzard, Blizzard Entertainment, diversity, overwatch

GDC: Blizzard Threw Some Subtle Shade At The Rest Of The Industry Over Diversity

During a discussion about Overwatch at GDC, the team was talking about embracing diversity with their latest hit. Overwatch has been named Game of the Year by two separate gaming awards now, and there was a bit about Tracer's sexuality that came up during the DICE summit. Tracer, being a known lesbian character, was one of the first LGBTQ characters featured on a video game's cover.

Specifically I'm talking about this slide that popped up on the screen during the panel:

Soren Johnson, the founder of Mohawk Games and former designer on Civ 3 and 4, was the one to make the catch, and it's thanks to him we have photo evidence of the subtle shade Blizzard is throwing here. The list of reasons why Overwatch has so much character diversity as opposed to some of the more cis-gendered, heterosexual, whitewashed male heavy games. I won't be pointing direct fingers, because we'd be here all day. It's a known problem in the industry and finally someone seems to be talking about why it's so counter-productive.

Despite Tracer being on the cover of Overwatch, it is the most acclaimed, most played game of 2016 by far. Diversity isn't something that developers and publishers should avoid because of that old "no one wants to play a female/gay/black/trans character" nonsense. Diversity can only help games. It widens the game audience by giving players characters they can relate to, it makes your game distinctive for having characters who aren't the exact same guy as is on the cover of every other game, and – like the Overwatch team pointed out – it's the right thing to do.

Diversity is not a step back or something that can hurt the industry. It may ruffle some feathers on the way, but gaming was never about playing it safe. And it's nice to play a character who isn't an "average guy" which is code for a brown haired, square jawed white man in peak physical condition. Yeah, sorry, that guy is far from "average" and we're sick of him.

So, here's one more reason why Overwatch should be everyone's game of the year – it features a ton of different characters of different races, genders, sexual orientations, alongside non-human characters. Which gives a fantastic amount of characters for players to relate to.

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