As part of the reveal and release of the new Blizzard World Overwatch map, Blizzard is unveiling a plethora of new cosmetic items for all of the heroes, with one new reveal each day in the past week. The reveals started with new sprays (one for each hero with unseen skins for four heroes), the golden ASP Pharah skin, which was shown in one of the new sprays and the “Puppet Master” Sombra emote along with new emotes for Genji and Mercy. Today, a new Lucio skin, called “Capoeira Lucio” was revealed. This too was shown as part of the new skins. Only Hanzo and D.va have unseen skins as part of the mysterious sprays.
Next, 13 South Korean hackers were arrested for hacking and fixing Overwatch matches. Blizzard requested a thorough investigation from the South Korean government, and after a yearlong search, 13 suspects were sent to a prosecutor’s office under allegations of violating the Game Industry Promotion Law and Information and Community Technology Protection Law. They could face up to two years in jail and an $18,000 fine.
Lastly, Dallas Fuel player xQc is being fined $2,000 and suspended for four matches for violation of the Overwatch League Code of Conduct during a livestream. Additionally, the Fuel themselves stood by OWL’s decision and added that they themselves will be suspending xQc for the rest of Stage One which runs until Feb. 10. This is due to a response that he had after the Houston Outlaws’ player “Muma” used xQc’s catchphrase “rolled and smoked” after the Outlaws beat the Fuel 4-0. Despite not even playing in the match, he went on a rant and said a line that many people saw as homophobic, as Muma, the player he was responding to, is openly gay. Muma referred to xQc as a “homophobic piece of garbage” during one of his livestreams shortly after the comments were made. xQc apologizes in a tweet and Muma seemingly accepted it. (Video summarized by Brady McAtamney)