Blizzard is launching an inclusion initiative for the Overwatch ecosystem
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Blizzard Entertainment is launching an inclusion program dubbed Calling All Heroes for its Overwatch games and Overwatch League esports community.
The mission of the program is to build an inclusive game and competitive environment in the Overwatch ecosystem, which gets a big boost on October 4 with the Overwatch 2 early access launch.
It’s not unlike Riot Games’ attempt to make Valorant more inclusive when the shooter game launched in 2020. At that time, Riot made efforts to bring more women into esports games and events. About 40% of the Valorant players were women, far above the percentage for League of Legends.
Esports is a category of gaming that could definitely use more category, and Blizzard Entertainment has work to do, as evidenced by an ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit by the state of California against the company and its parent Activision Blizzard. Blizzard has said it will do better, and this program could be said to be evidence of that effort.
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Blizzard said the new effort is one of a number that focus on equity, visibility and community support for underrepresented genders.
Developers, the League office, teams, casters, players, and fans all have an important role to play when it comes to making Overwatch a safe and welcoming community, Blizzard said.
The game team is implementing a new initiative called Defense Matrix — an infrastructure of systems designed to protect gameplay
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