Skip to main content

Blizzard is ‘sorry’ for disappointing you with ‘Overwatch’ character Mei’s winter skin

blizzard is sorry for disappointing you with overwatch character meis winter skin mei wonderland
Image used with permission by copyright holder
With the Winter Wonderland event up and running in Overwatch, fans have taken early, hard-hitting concerns to Blizzard’s forums – namely involving Mei’s hideous new outfit. Though she now totes her own Snowball Offensive mode, the character was largely overlooked in previous events held earlier in the year.

One such complaint comes from a user clearly disgruntled by a seasonal winter coat worn by Mei. A lumbering red coat garnished with fluffy white trim and bright green embellishments, the outfit is boisterous to say the least.

Fortunately, for heated gamers distressed by Mei’s gaudy wardrobe, game director Jeff Kaplan actually issued an apology for the controversial new skin. Yes, that’s how bad it is, apparently.

“Sorry you are disappointed with Mei’s winter skin,” Kaplan wrote. “We just sort of make a gut call based off of what we think is cool. Coolness is very subjective, and based off of the community reaction it seems like our gauge was off on this one.”

Amusingly enough, Mei’s winter coat has incited rage, if only because of its status as a “Legendary” skin. While players expect these designs to be particularly edgy and cutthroat, this one is actually kind of fun-loving — merry, one might say.

“Our reasoning for [the skin] being Legendary was that we completely redid the visual effects for Cryo-Freeze (we turned the ice block into a snowman),” Kaplan elaborated. “We thought that was pretty special and we had done it specifically based on community suggestions from months ago when people were speculating that we might have a winter event.”

Nevertheless, if you were expecting this to be the last of Mei’s Legendary attire, Blizzard is aiming to turn things around with “something pretty awesome” slated for early 2017. Beyond that, the company hasn’t specified what exactly is in store for dedicated Overwatch players.

However, one thing’s for sure: a Santa hat need not apply.

Gabe Carey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
A freelancer for Digital Trends, Gabe Carey has been covering the intersection of video games and technology since he was 16…
Overwatch 2 executive producer leaving Blizzard amid lawsuit
Genji slashes a robot in Overwatch 2.

As publishing giant Activision Blizzard faces legal woes on all fronts, the company is beginning to bleed leadership. Blizzard's president, J. Allen Brack, stepped down from his post in August, and according to a report from Bloomberg, he's being followed by the executive producer of one of the company's biggest franchises.

The report claims that Chacko Sonny, the current executive producer of Overwatch, will be leaving the company this Friday, September 24. His departure was confirmed to Bloomberg by a spokesman for Activision Blizzard. Sonny's role at the studio was nearly essential, tasking him with overseeing the entire Overwatch franchise as well as the development of Overwatch 2, a job that became much more important since Jeff Kaplan, former director of Overwatch, left Blizzard in April. Multiple anonymous sources told Bloomberg that Sonny was seen as a "stabilizing force on the Overwatch team."

Read more
Blizzard is changing Overwatch character McCree’s name amid controversy
Jesse McCree in Overwatch

Jesse McCree, the six-shootin' cowboy of Overwatch voiced by Matt Mercer, will be getting a new name according to a post on the game's Twitter page. The decision by developer Blizzard comes after the character's real-life namesake, a former game designer at the studio, was let go from the company.

"As we continue to discuss how we best live up to our values and to demonstrate our commitment to creating a game world that reflects them," reads Blizzard's statement on the Overwatch Twitter page, "we believe it's necessary to change the name of the hero currently known as McCree to something that better represents what Overwatch stands for." A new name for the hero has not been announced.

Read more
Everything you need to know about Overwatch endorsements
Mei and Zarya run with the payload.

As long as there's been competitive gaming, there's been all kinds of bad sports. From trash-talking to griefing to downright disgusting behavior, most players have unfortunately had at least a few unfortunate encounters with these toxic players. At first, there was basically nothing that could be done about these players except to mute them and maybe use some sort of reporting system if the game had that feature. As games have gotten more popular, the amount of these bad players has increased, but so too have the tools for discouraging this bad behavior.

Blizzard's incredibly popular and evolving Overwatch has had a particularly bad history with toxic players in their community. While there have been many attempts to cure this plague of annoying, offensive, and downright abhorrent behavior, the latest system they've implemented is trying something slightly new. Rather than discouraging bad behavior with punishments, which of course still exists, Overwatch now has an endorsement system that tries to encourage good behavior. If you're wondering what endorsements are, how they work, and how and why you should try and get them, here's everything you need to know.

Read more