In continuing to try and rehabilitate their company’s reputation by quadrupling down on diversity and inclusion as the multiplayer shooter’s main creative philosophy, Activision Blizzard has confirmed that Overwatch 2‘s next Damage-class hero, Venture, will be the game’s first non-binary character.
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Sporting a giant drill weapon and a spelunker’s aesthetic, Venture’s existence was first briefly teased to the world on November 3rd, courtesy of a tweet published to the game’s official Twitter account.
Sharing concept art of both Venture and fellow newcomer Space Ranger, Activision Blizzard invited fans to see the official reveals of these heroes at the then-upcoming Overwatch: What’s Next panel, as set to be held during the 2023 entry of the developer’s annual Blizzcon event.
Shortly after Activision Blizzard shared this invitation, it was retweeted by Overwatch 2 character tech artist Ana Martínez, who further promoted the characters’ reveals by asserting, “these characters are our special meow meows and i am really REALLY excited for everyone to meet them both”.
From there, Martínez was then met by a handful of tweets inquiring specifically as to Venture’s pronouns, including one from @rinasIowburn and another from @Entropic Teddy.
In reply to both, the artist confirmed, “Venture’s pronouns are they/them”.
Further details as to Venture’s character were eventually revealed, as promised, as the aforementioned Overwatch: What’s Next panel.
“In Season 10, you’ll get to play as our newest damage hero, Venture,” announced character concept artist Daryl Tan during the closing minutes of the panel. “They are our second-and-a-half Canadian hero people. People often forget Farah is half-Canadian!”
“The fantasy we’re going for with Venture is that of the a swashbuckling archaeologist,” Tan then detailed of the new character. “They have an unquenchable thirst for past treasures and hidden secrets and will go any which way to get to them and for Venture that way is often down Venture uses their powerful drill to dig through the map to attack the opposing team”.
As of writing, both Venture and Space Ranger have yet to receive an official date for their respective additions to Overwatch 2.