A short story about "Overwatch," which is one of the most popular games around the world launched in 2016, revealed that one of its famous characters is gay. The revelation received positive feedback from fans, as the majority of them had already suspected as much.
The short story, titled "Bastet," was released by Overwatch creator Activision Blizzard last Monday. The story focuses on the two heroes of the game, Ana and Soldier 76. While they share their history, Ana saw Soldier 76's young photo with another man. It was later on revealed the man on the picture was Vincent - who was once his lover, but they broke up.
Although their relationship is just a glimpse of a long history, it had already confirmed the speculation regarding the sexuality of Soldier 76, a super-soldier who was once known as Jack Morrison. A lot of fans are sure the game character was indeed gay because of his relationships on other characters, while some thought he had an asexual role which served as the patriarch of Overwatch.
The lead writer of Overwatch, Michael Chu, also confirmed via Twitter that Soldier 76 is gay, and he was once in a romantic relationship with Vincent many years ago. Chu identifies both game characters as gay.
Thanks for all the messages about “Bastet”!
Jack and Vincent were in a romantic relationship many years ago. Both identify as gay. ️ — Michael Chu (@westofhouse) January 7, 2019
Meanwhile, LGBTQ fans warmly embraced the revelation and welcomed Soldier 76 as the second character in Overwatch to out his sexuality, the South China Morning Post reported. It can be recalled that another original hero of the game, Tracer, was identified as a lesbian in an official comic book back in 2016, the character had a girlfriend and was spending Christmas with her.
Many fans even shared memes and jokes on social media while they celebrate the news. Overwatch is a popular shooting video game with 29 playable characters, which includes the most recent addition to the team, the Damage hero Ashe. The game is also known for its diverse characters wherein each of them has different personalities and back stories - including LGBTQ+-friendly characters such as Tracer and Symmetra, who has autism.
But while the revelation of Soldier 76's sexuality was overwhelmingly positive to many, not all are happy with how Blizzard has handled it. A few Overwatch players were skeptical and questioned the company as to why they had to wait for so long to address the sexuality of the character. Some players openly wondered whether the developer would make the queerness an active part of the characters identities, or if their sexuality will always be trivial.
