People like Blizzard’s new game so much that they are doing a lot of searches in an effort to see its characters naked.
On Thursday, searches for Overwatch on the adult-video company Pornhub jumped 817 percent, according to the website. Of course, Thursday was also the start of the Overwatch open beta on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, which gave a huge audience its first go at the class-based team shooter from the studio responsible for World of Warcraft. And after getting a taste of the excellent action in Overwatch (we’ve really enjoyed our time with it), players went looking for the game’s characters engaging in lewd behavior.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1944447,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"B"}']Gaming is a $99.6 billion business, and you don’t generate that kind of revenue without a little sex appeal. Overwatch is no different. Its characters are visually appealing on multiple levels, and — clearly — that is riling up a lot of fans.
Above: People want to see Tracer getting down.
Interestingly, in the case of Overwatch, people looking for adult content will actually find quite a lot. The game isn’t even out, and some of the steamier parts of Tumblr are already overflowing with fan art and quick animations that strip Blizzard’s characters of their clothing and occasionally have them bumping Ultimates with each other.
Most of the Overwatch-related videos you’ll find on Pornhub feature the character models from the game with some slight alterations to show more skin. Amateur animators then use the free Source Film Maker tool from Dota 2 publisher Valve to make those characters thrust, gyrate, and quiver.
The abundance of porn for Overwatch seems like it can only indicate a deep, primal response to the character design, and that likely bodes well for the shooter’s launch later this month.
If you’ve paid any attention to the early fan culture for Overwatch, you’ve likely noticed that Tracer seems especially popular. Well, Pornhub’s data confirms that. The company found that “Overwatch Tracer” is the most popular search term featuring “Overwatch.” Here are some more:
Above: Personally, I prefer Torbjorn.
Pornhub has also discovered that the thirst for Overwatch porn is a global phenomenon. Folks from Asia, Europe, and South America are all looking for porn related to the game. Again, Blizzard can likely take this as a sign that it’s done something right by driving so many different kinds of people to want to see Widowmaker and Mercy acting wrong.