Summary

  • Genji's new skin in Overwatch 2 Season 16 has been accused of whitewashing, turning him into a white British man.
  • The skin has been criticized by many, with one fan calling him a "western Disney prince".
  • Hanzo has also received a new matching skin, but he hasn't whitewashed to the extent that Genji has been.

Overwatch 2 Season 16 is finally here, which means a whole new batch of skins are on the way too, whether they are included in the battle pass, or added as shop items. For the most part, everything seems to be pretty fine - apart from the fact there's a disappointingly small number of magical girl skins in the battle pass - but there is one skin that appears to be kicking up a stink.

Genji is getting a new skin this season, and it's another one of those human-form skins that we all love so much. That wouldn't be too bad if that was just the case though, but many are pointing out that Genji, a very obviously Japanese character, appears to have been turned into a white British man with his new skin.

Overwatch 2 Season 16 Skins Coming Under Fire For Whitewashing Genji

Pretty much every discussion about Season 16's new skins has some form of comment from someone claiming that Genji has been whitewashed (including the tweet from OWCavalry above). A Reddit user called SirSwagAlotTheHung was one of many to point out that Genji is looking a lot whiter than usual in his new skin, with another user called CobraSkillX joking that "his name is George now".

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There are loads of comments in these threads also mistaking Genji for Solider 76 thanks to his new skin, and the whitewashing accusation even go back as far as last month, when Genji's skin leaked before the season started. In these comments, someone says that Blizzard turned Genji into a "western Disney prince", alongside loads of other comments wondering exactly why Genji is now Caucasian.

What makes this even more bizarre is that Hanzo appears to have been given a matching skin, yet he doesn't appear to have been whitewashed nearly as badly as Genji has. Then again, Blizzard has a history of releasing dodgy skins, so maybe we shouldn't be too surprised.

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Overwatch 2

Shooter Systems 9.3/10 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 77/100 Critics Rec: 65% Released August 10, 2023 ESRB T For Teen // Blood, Mild Language, Use of Tobacco, Violence Developer(s) Blizzard Publisher(s) Blizzard Engine Proprietary Engine
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