Blizzard Entertainment developers have explained that Overwatch's roster isn't getting hotter for the reasons you might think, but that hasn't stopped fans from complaining that some of the characters' face models are way too alike.
It's no secret that Overwatch's characters have become more conventionally attractive through the years. Whether it was characters like Roadhog and Zarya or Junkrat and Mei, the hero shooter felt fresh for representing multiple body types and silhouettes at launch, alongside stuff like a talking gorilla or robot monk.
But since Overwatch 2, now just Overwatch again, new heroes have more or less been what you'd expect from your usual shooter fare. They're mostly all young, slim or fit, usually tall, and have faces worthy of magazine covers (or a million sellable cosmetics.)
Senior producer Kenny Hudson now says the conventionally attractive body types actually come from technical needs rather than a desire to make endless eye candy, though. "Something that we kind of look into when we're doing our heroes is how can we make them unique, but still give them a good platform, proportionally, height, scale proportion to not only build cosmetics for them and future-proof things, but to stop the technical hurdles of other things," Hudson tells Gamespot.
"So, one of the things that really helps with that is if you give longer limbs, taller legs, a bigger core, it actually makes it easier for our artists to physically put new geometry on those models," he adds. "And so, that's how it kind of turns out."
The producer also promises the team's creation pipeline has been revamped ever since Wrecking Ball (a hamster in a deadly mecha ball) put the devs in "crisis," so it should be easier for the studio to make characters who aren't exactly catwalk-ready from here on out.
The kirikofication 😭 from r/Overwatch
how do you have a team of artists and still end up with same face syndrome as bad as this . BROTHER. pic.twitter.com/8AK1m9I7D4February 4, 2026
Still, that doesn't address why heroes' faces have become more homogenized as well. Over on social media, several players have been pointing out the similarities between upcoming DPS Anran and evergreen supports Kiriko and Juno, even going so far as dubbing the problem "same face syndrome."
One post even highlights that Anran's face model wasn't so distractingly familiar when the fire-bending hero was teased last year - she had a stronger jaw and sharper eyes to set her apart from her younger peers, though she's now victim of the "Kirikofication" effect.
Last year, Blizzard said the team still loved oddball Overwatch characters. We got our first glimpse of that yesterday with the Jetpack Cat hero.
