Overwatch and pornography
Overwatch's character designs led to widespread adult fan works.
A large amount of fan-made pornography was inspired by Blizzard Entertainment's Overwatch franchise. Online creators were drawn to the game's colorful character designs, producing explicit fanart. Models from the beta were extracted, then spread, edited, and animated across the internet.
Quick Facts
- Franchise
- Overwatch
- Developer
- Blizzard Entertainment
- Release year
- 2016
- Genre
- Multiplayer online shooter
Facts from the source article.
Background and history
Overwatch, a multiplayer online shooter released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2016, features a diverse roster of characters with distinct visual designs. Fan-made pornographic content for online multiplayer games is a widespread phenomenon; Pornhub’s vice-president Cory Price noted that popular video-game related searches on the site included Minecraft, Halo, Clash of Clans, and Call of Duty. Eurogamer’s Aoife Wilson observed that a simple search on platforms like Pornhub turns up adult material inspired by numerous well-known game franchises. During Overwatch’s closed beta in late 2015, players extracted and distributed the game’s character models online. In early 2016, Blizzard faced criticism over a victory pose for the cover character Tracer, with some fans arguing it reduced her to a generic female sex symbol. When an open beta launched on May 5, 2016, Pornhub saw an 817% surge in searches for Overwatch-related pornography. These searches came from around the world, with South Korea and Belarus showing the highest interest. Jeff Grub of VentureBeat reported that sites like Tumblr were flooded with sexualized fan art at the time. Kotaku’s Nathan Grayson explained that Overwatch lends itself to adult content due to its colorful, visually distinct characters, a higher proportion of female heroes, and their often skin-tight outfits. He also noted that Source Filmmaker makes producing such material straightforward, as its community shares assets including nude models. Many creators and viewers of this content have never played the game. Blender, a free open-source 3D creation tool, is also used; one animator told Kotaku that Overwatch models are easily accessible for Blender and some are beginner-friendly. A number of artists have gained popularity in their communities and monetized their work through Patreon donations.
Pornographic content
During the open beta, many Overwatch videos on Pornhub used the official character models with minor changes to reveal more skin. Amateur creators used Valve's free Source Filmmaker tool to make sexual animations. Tracer was the most searched Overwatch character, followed by Widowmaker and Mercy, and futanari content was also common. After competitive mode launched in late June, the search "Mei Overwatch Rule 34" became the top target. Mo Mozuch of iDigitalTimes noted Mei's popularity was surprising, as she seemed an unlikely subject, and much of her pornography is body positive, with exaggerated forms compared to the Venus of Willendorf rather than Barbie. On September 12, YouPorn reported Tracer was the second-most searched female video game character, behind Lara Croft. In January 2017, Pornhub listed Tracer, D.Va, Mercy, Widowmaker, and Sombra as the top five female characters, with Lúcio as the most popular male. Most Overwatch pornography is just a few seconds long and designed to loop. After the game's full release, some creators began making longer, story-driven animations. Kotaku's Grayson explained that the characters are intentionally left incomplete to allow room for player identity. Some short clips take known traits to logical extremes, like showing former pro gamer D.Va masturbating while streaming.
Major works
In September 2016, the adult film studio Brazzers released a pornographic parody of Overwatch called Oversnatch XXX Parody. The video starred Danny D as Reaper and Aletta Ocean as Widowmaker, depicting a grudge match between the two characters inside an abandoned strip club. This marked the first time Brazzers had parodied a video game, though they later produced more such parodies. Separately, the team behind the website Overpog.com, after making several fake Playboy covers, decided to create a Playboy-style magazine themed around Overwatch. They called it Playwatch. The magazine contained no nudity; any images that would have shown nudity were cropped or edited to remove it. It also included made-up articles and interviews with Overwatch characters, plus real-life cosplay photos. The first issue was finished in November and attracted a large audience on Reddit. Overpog told PVP Live that the sexualized images were meant to excite and impress with artistic intent rather than be explicitly sexual, and that the magazine was primarily a parody of Playboy. In February 2017, Blizzard Entertainment hired a copyright firm to issue a cease-and-desist order, shutting Playwatch down. In 2017, cosplayer Stella Chuu organized a group project called Underwatch, which involved sexualized cosplay of every Overwatch hero. She designed the costumes and worked with a team to present them at Katsucon 2017. The event drew a big crowd but was shut down by convention staff after about an hour, who asked the group to leave or cover up. They then moved to a suite at the nearby MGM Grand for a photoshoot. Chuu told Kotaku that many cosplayers later told her the event made them feel confident. Also in 2017, the virtual reality pornography company BaDoinkVR planned several VR porn projects based on Overwatch. Producer Dinorah Hernandez explained that players become attached to Overwatch characters through gameplay, and that the character designs increase sexual attraction.
Reactions
When asked about explicit fan works based on Overwatch, game director Jeff Kaplan acknowledged his creative responsibility for the franchise and expressed concern, noting that many children play the game despite its Teen rating. He also stated that he values creative expression and that no one is trying to restrict freedom of speech. Much of the adult content uses official character models with added genitalia. Takedown notices for such material have been sent by the security firm Irdeto, which media reports suggest Blizzard may have hired to manage unwanted fan works. Blizzard itself has not publicly addressed the volume of Overwatch adult content. After a creator shared a screenshot of a takedown notice on Reddit, other creators began organizing to urge Blizzard to stop the removals. Studio FOW, a well-known developer of adult video game content, said it would not produce Overwatch material after receiving a cease-and-desist order from Blizzard in 2015 related to its World of Warcraft projects. In a blog post, the studio explained it did not want to repeat that experience, stating it had better things to do than argue with what it called hypocritical attorneys, and that it prioritized protecting its team and supporting their families. Critics James Stephanie Sterling and VentureBeat’s Jeff Grub both viewed the large amount of fan creations, including adult content, as a positive indicator of the game’s lasting popularity. The surge of Pokémon-related adult content after Pokémon Go’s release was compared to Overwatch’s situation.
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