Overwatch 2 is having an in-game Pride event for the first time: 'We're here to be authentic to these characters and true to them for Pride'
Pride is coming to Overwatch 2 as part of a new, regular in-game event starting on June 1.
Every Overwatch 2 player will receive a free collection of 15 Pride flag icons and 24 name cards to use on their account profiles—a first for not only Overwatch, but Blizzard, too. Much like Overwatch's other events, Pride will come with an alternate version of the Midtown, New York map, set just after a parade with flags and confetti lining the streets.
Blizzard is also dropping a canon short story that confirms Pharah as a lesbian and Baptiste as bisexual. Fans have spent Overwatch's six-year history speculating on each hero's identity, but the narrative side of the shooter went stagnant as work started on the sequel. With the addition of hundreds of new voice lines in Overwatch 2, particularly those from the newest pansexual support character, Lifeweaver, Blizzard has started to finally move the pieces forward.
In a blog post about the Pride event, Blizzard says it «realized how much more we can do in exploring our character identities and relationships,» outside of the recently downscaled PvE side of the game. «This is just the beginning of Pride in Overwatch 2,» it says. «Over the coming seasons and years, we’ll have more to share as the deeper lore of the Overwatch universe unfolds.»
Speaking in a group interview with PC Gamer, game director Aaron Keller described Overwatch's previous events, like Halloween Terror and Winter Wonderlands, as reflections of what happens in the real world at the same time. «We thought it was important to try to carry this forward for Pride as well so that people all around the world, people in the community, people outside the community, would be able to see this celebration happening in
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