The highly anticipated collaboration event between Overwatch and Nier: Automata has officially launched, bringing with it event challenges, awards, and a new set of character skins. The fortunes of Overwatch have really shifted as of late. While the game has progressively been improving, things hit overdrive in February as Blizzard announced its most ambitious update yet, essentially overhauling the game, rebranding it back to Overwatch and making substantial changes going forward.
As part of its official rebrand, 5 new heroes were added to Overwatch in Season 1, with another 5 set to launch throughout the rest of 2026. A greater focus has been placed on the game’s overarching narrative, highly requested changes were applied, and as such, the player count has spiked across all of its versions. However, the launch of Season 1 and the new heroes were just the beginning, as players have had non-stop things to do, including a Talon vs Overwatch community event, which has since led into the big midcycle update. At long last, the anticipated Nier: Automata collaboration has finally arrived for the next two weeks.
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Overwatch x Project YoRHa Skins
Kicking off on March 10 and running through March 23, the Overwatch x Project YoRHa collaboration event is bringing 5 premium skins based on Square Enix’s hit franchise to the game, transforming Kiriki, Wuyang, Vendetta, Mercy, and Lifeweaver into iconic characters like 2B and 9S. Fans already got a taste of the Overwatch collaboration after the skins leaked early, but now they can officially see the full collection in full detail.
Here are the currently available premium skins for this collaboration:
- Kiriko as 2B (with Pod 042)
- Wuyang as 9S (with Pod 153)
- Vendetta as A2
- Mercy as Commander White
- Lifeweaver as Adam
In addition to the skins, the collaboration event adds a themed lobby that was co-designed by Kimihiko Fujisaka and Koda Kazuma, two Nier: Automata artists. The event hub itself also features its own set of challenges for players to work through to earn even more cosmetic and personalization rewards like name cards and player titles. Not only that, players can also earn a special Weapon Charm that is inspired by the Nier: Automata collaboration.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
The current Overwatch, previously referred to as Overwatch 2, has leaned heavily into these collaboration events, pairing Blizzard’s popular hero shooter with all sorts of IPs and franchises. While some have been surprising, like Hello Kitty, Overwatch has also collaborated with Transformers, One Punch Man, Persona 5, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Cowboy Bebop, My Hero Academia, and more. In fact, Blizzard has even tapped into some of its other valuable franchises like World of Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, bringing over iconic character skins like Lilith, the Lich King, Thrall, Inarius, and others. It’s clear that this is a popular and lucrative path for Blizzard, so fans should expect to see plenty more of these collaborations as the game continues to evolve going forward.
In fact, collaborating with Nier: Automata has proven to be a popular choice, as the Square Enix game has already found itself represented in a ton of other games and franchises over the years. Even though Nier: Automata approaches its 10-year anniversary in 2027, the characters and game itself continue to be incredibly popular. Lead character 2B has found herself as a guest in various games like Soulcalibur 6 and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising as a playable fighter. The game has even been included in games like Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Naraka: Bladepoint, Stellar Blade, and Final Fantasy 14 to name a few. Even stranger, PUBG Battlegrounds has also previously had a Nier: Automata event, bringing these characters into a battle royale experience.
- 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)
