A battle pass isn’t the only live-service staple Blizzard is implementing into Overwatch 2. On March 7, Overwatch is entering the wonderful world of IP collaborations starting with a collection of skins inspired by the popular anime series One Punch Man.
According to Blizzard’s Overwatch 2 Season 3 blog post, the One Punch Man collaboration will feature “a collection of cosmetics from the beloved anime.” So far, the studio has only revealed one item: a Doomfist skin inspired by One Punch Man protagonist Saitama. The blog post stated the studio plans on revealing additional items leading up to the collaboration’s release on March 7, with one of the cosmetics being a Legendary skin players can earn through a series of themed challenges.
Though this isn’t the first time an established character entered Overwatch as a skin for one of its heroes–Orisa, Widowmaker, Torbjorn, Doomfish, Zarya, and Roadhog have all received skins based off of other Blizzard properties–this collaboration marks the first time Blizzard has recruited licensed characters from outside the company. However, while it might be a first for the studio, the move is not entirely unexpected. Late last summer, Overwatch VP Jon Spector revealed the team was interested in exploring Fortnite-style crossovers.
“We’ve seen some really fun examples out there of games working with other brands or other games,” Spector said. “I’m a big anime nerd myself. I think it’s super cool when I see Naruto appear in Fortnite. I don’t even play Fortnite, but that’s awesome. And as we look at the Overwatch 2 space, those are things that we’re interested in exploring. If and when we do that, one of our key values is to do it in a way that feels like a great fit for the Overwatch franchise.”
In addition to game’s upcoming One Punch Man collection, Overwatch 2 is also getting a number of new skins as a part of its third season. Whereas Season 2 offered an assortment of Greek mythology-based cosmetics, Season 3 is focused on Asian mythology. Included in these skins is the Amaterasu Kiriko Mythic skin, which Blizzard states is “inspired by various deities in Japanese mythology with customizations you can mix and match themed for the moon, the sea, and storms.”
Season 3 also brings with it a new Antarctic map, bullet-proof penguins, an Overwatch dating sim, and plenty of nerfs, buffs, and other quality-of-life changes.
