If you’ve noticed Overwatch’s characters getting progressively sexier over the years, you’re not alone, though Blizzard said there is an explanation for it aside from thirsty gamers.
When Overwatch first launched in 2016, part of its appeal was its wide-ranging roster of characters of all shapes and sizes, ranging from a talking gorilla to a robotic monk. Characters like Zarya and Mei broke the mold of what many players were accustomed to seeing from female characters.
In 2026, while there is still the occasional oddball character (like Venture or the upcoming Jetpack Cat), many of Overwatch’s newer heroes, like Freja, Vendetta, Wuyang, and Juno, as well as many of the new heroes coming in Overwatch 2026 Season 1, are all what society would label as more conventionally attractive. Usually, they are tall, skinny, and fit.
Overwatch 2026 Season 1’s five new heroes are lookers.
That is, in part, by design, though not for the reason you might think. In a recent interview with GameSpot ahead of Blizzard’s Overwatch Spotlight, editor Jessica Cogswell asked Overwatch senior producer Kenny Hudson why, exactly, the game’s characters have been getting more attractive, and whether it’s an intentional choice on Blizzard’s part.
“Something that we kind of look into when we’re doing our heroes is how can we make them unique, but still give them a good platform, proportionally, height, scale proportion to not only build cosmetics for them and future-proof things, but to stop the technical hurdles of other things,” Hudson said. “So, one of the things that really helps with that is if you give longer limbs, taller legs, a bigger core, it actually makes it easier for our artists to physically put new geometry on those models. And so, that’s how it kind of turns out.”
Hudson went on to explain how a complicated hero like Wrecking Ball had the team in “crisis” mode attempting to figure out how to make new skins for the character. That led Blizzard to focus on “something you know” when crafting new heroes, before restructuring its creation pipeline and learning lessons that could then be used to tackle more unconventional characters.
“Now we’re in this realm where we can make more Jetpack Cats because we’ve learned all these lessons,” Hudson said.
As announced during the Overwatch Spotlight, Blizzard’s free-to-play shooter is dropping the 2 from its name and is once again just Overwatch. The game’s first 2026 season will introduce a whopping five new characters. Subsequent seasons will each add an additional hero, for a total of 10 new heroes in 2026. In its first collaboration of the year, Overwatch will cross over with Hello Kitty and friends.