Overwatch 2 Needs an Evangelion Collaboration: A Perfect Match

Developers and publishers need to know what their audiences want. That’s nothing recent. Blizzard Entertainment, especially, has gotten good (mostly) at picking collaboration winners. Relating to my live-service game of selection, ’s hits far outweigh the misses. From to K-Pop group LE SSERAFIM, the hero shooter’s collabs strike a balance between inspired design and whale bait.

And I’m sure Blizzard knows this, especially provided that one other survey has made its way into the inbox of players recently. This time around, quite a few licensed IPs appeared as potential suggestions for a future collaboration. The assorted brands included Yu-Gi-Oh, Harry Potter ( ), and lots of more. Nevertheless, one stands out above the remaining for just how obvious its success can be.

There’s got to be a collaboration with Neon Genesis Evangelion, one of the vital celebrated anime series of the past thirty years. The influence on all things anime-adjacent from series creator, author, and director Hideaki Anno can’t be understated – especially relating to Overwatch. Blizzard definitely knows it too: the signature colours of the Unit-1 Evangelion have appeared multiple times in character skins.

I mean, D.Va is blatantly inspired by Evangelion and the a long time of iconic mecha anime that will follow in its footsteps. Stop beating across the bush, Blizzard.

Get within the EVA and provides the fans a collaboration worthy of an emotional and mental crisis.

There’s an argument to be made that Evangelion is a very powerful anime franchise in history. Its cultural footprint looms large – in Japan, the series and its characters appear in make-up brand campaigns, on jewelry, as a part of food promotions, and it even has its own killer theme park ride at Universal Studios. This masterful deconstruction of the mecha genre and anime as an art form remains to be, to this date, one of the vital biting and powerful pieces of media ever made.

But in addition, Evangelion is cool as heck.

I’ll always remember the primary time I watched Evangelion in its entirety, not knowing anything about it beforehand. What I assumed was a form of interesting, form of risqué anime about giant robots become a disquieting contemplation of self-loathing that holds as much as today. The series also went on to redefine itself with the ‘Rebuild’ movies, which told the unique story in a brand new way with recent characters, and a brand new, far more positive conclusion than the nihilistic End of Evangelion.

You’re right in case you’re considering it appears like Evangelion means so much to me. As a fan of the Shōnen genre growing up, it wasn’t until my first watch of Anno’s work that I understood the ability of anime as a storytelling medium. I’m not the just one, as nods and outright references to the Shin Godzilla creator’s work could be found across all entertainment. Including Overwatch 2.

Even outside D.Va’s mech and the in-game story (yes, it still has one) of South Korea being strikingly just like that of EVA’s tackle Japan, the anime’s DNA is in every single place within the hero shooter. Heartbreaking character moments, tragic backstories, and heroes who overcome unimaginable situations so as to discover who they really were and need to be.

Give it some thought: A pilot, lost in a time loop and whose body is consistently pulling her apart. That reads less fun and peppy in case you don’t know I’m talking about Tracer.

In all honesty, I’m surprised that more mainstream video games have not brought Evangelion in as a collaboration. The most important games to work with the series are probably PUBG and Goddess of Victory: Nikke, the mobile game all about gigantic guns and large, wobbly butts. A bit weird when many of the Evangelion solid is made up of teenagers.

Did I download the sport once I saw it was doing an Evangelion crossover? Absolutely. Did I understand a thing in regards to the game besides its obvious fan service? Nope.

Make Money, Sell Skins, Do Things

At the tip of the day, the purpose of those collaborations is to make players do exactly what I did. They grab the interest of latest and lapsed players, give them something cool, and gets premium customers to purchase in.

Evangelion still has that power. I’d even argue that, of all of the anime brands, it has one of the vital ubiquitous and long-reaching appeals as a gaming collab. Yes, there are greater and splashier anime right away, reminiscent of Solo Leveling, Demon Slayer, and My Dress Up Darling. But EVA remains to be the rare property that may work with nearly any variety of game and never feel like a blatant money grab. Authenticity still matters. I might argue that was something Blizzard showcased with its first-ever Collab with One Punch Man.

Going into that release, I wasn’t sold on the thought of collaboration events in Overwatch 2. It wasn’t until an interview with among the art team and their breakdown of how they approached the event that I understood the vision. Not straight copying, but inspiration and a melding of the Overwatch characters and the things that made One Punch Man so special to fans in the primary place.

We’ve seen that blueprint repeatedly now, with the Cowboy Bebop, Gundam, and collabs. And Evangelion is the right match for the aesthetic and imagery of Overwatch 2. Furthermore, it provides a wonderful counterpoint to the constant “Cool Robot!” meme war between Gundam and EVA.

It’s also one in all the few rare properties where I could literally see any character in the sport get a skin, and it wouldn’t feel like a stretch. Yes, even Junkrat. God bless him, he’d make an excellent Sahaquiel.

And hey, if I’m being blunt: I’ll buy every skin from an Evangelion collab with Overwatch 2. No reason to lie. I’m the whale that I discussed earlier. Call me Shamoo or Free Willy, because I’ll immediately shell out $100 for whatever bundle gets me D.va in an Asuka/Unit-2 skin.

It’s time, Blizzard. Give the people what they need. Get within the damned EVA.