“This is Genuinely Insane” Over 8,000 Overwatch Players Are Sick and Tired of the Zarya Neglect
Fans of Zarya in Overwatch are becoming increasingly irritated with the lack of attention from Blizzard Entertainment that she’s been receiving in recent years, and that frustration is starting to boil over. There are 50 playable champions to choose between in Overwatch and even more on the way, but not all of them have received equal time in the spotlight, and a lot of Zarya fans feel that’s something that needs to change soon.
The game currently known as Overwatch, released in August 2023, is actually the sequel to the original hero shooter launched in 2016, though the two share one name after Blizzard dropped the title of Overwatch 2 in early February and revealed the release of 10 new Overwatch heroes being added over the course of the year. Zarya is one of the 21 heroes on the current roster who have been around since the beginning, and she’s attracted a lot of fans with her bulky, muscular frame, shock of hot pink hair, and most importantly, deployment of powerful barriers that absorb damage to power up her devastating Particle Cannon.
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Overwatch Fans Want Zarya to be Given More by Blizzard
While Zarya shares a special status as one of the original representatives of Overwatch, fans are now sounding off about the perceived neglect she’s been facing at the hands of Blizzard Entertainment, the game’s publisher and developer. A recently made post on Reddit by Waevunreal complains that Zarya has not been featured in a single highlight intro since 2018 at the latest, and plenty of fans have taken notice of her absence from these special scenes, as the post has generated more than 6,000 likes in less than 24 hours. Zarya may not be exactly topping the charts of the current list of most popular heroes in Overwatch, but she’s still got a healthy-sized following and relevance in the meta-game, and players are becoming frustrated after seeing her pushed to the back of the line for so long.
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It’s not just the lack of highlight intros that has made the players’ list of complaints regarding neglect to Zarya. Multiple fans have also commented on the lack of good Overwatch skins that have been released for Zarya over the series’ nearly 10-year lifespan. Many feel disappointed with the lack of choice in Zarya’s skins, with her Chinese New Year, Barbarain, and Totally ’80s-themed skins being the most popular, but even a good chunk of her fan base feels her best skins are pretty underwhelming when compared to the offerings of a lot of other heroes on the roster, and some more attention to detail would be appreciated.
Some fans feel the lack of attention thrown Zarya’s way could be due to her noticeably large frame, as the musclebound female character has seemingly been pushed to the side by Blizzard, while thinner, more lightweight, traditionally feminine women in the game have been given a lot more attention. The list of tank heroes in Overwatch is mostly populated by large men, robots, and animal characters like Winston and Wrecking Ball, and while Zarya’s muscles make her a more logical fit for the role, there’s a fear that they could also be hurting her marketability when she’s placed up against characters like Juno, Kiriko, and Mercy.
While the comparison of the level of attention given to Zarya compared to other characters may be a valid one, it’s not as though Blizzard has left her out to dry completely. In early February, Overwatch offered a free new Epic Zarya skin and Epic Loot Box to any player who tuned into special live streams by a number of specific gaming influencers on Twitch. Still, that move was not enough for many fans who have been around since the beginning and would like to see her visibility increased proportionally to other heroes.
- Released
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August 10, 2023
- ESRB
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Teen / Violence, Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco, Users Interact, In-Game Purchases (Includes Random Items)