A new Ovewatch webcomic has been released online, but people in Russia won’t be able to see it. This is because of the country’s strict stance on homosexuality.
Eurogamer actually reports that it was Blizzard’s decision not to release the Overwatch comic in Russia to avoid controversy. Blizzard said this statement: “Blizzard decided not to publish in Russia to comply with Russian legislation. We preemptively decided not to publish given the climate in Russia and Legal feedback”
If you live in Russia and try to look at the comic, you get this message: “In accordance with Russian law we cannot share this comic with our players on territory of Russian Federation”
Russia doesn’t like “gay propaganda” and they label it as illegal. Blizzard probably made the right call to not release it in the country to avoid controversy or even legal action taken against them.
If you did not know already, the comic reveals that Tracer is the first openly gay character in Overwatch. She can be seen kissing another woman which is her girlfriend. Blizzard has said in the past that it’s proud of the diverse cast of characters that it has created. There’s a mix of male and female characters plus people from different races. Not to mention there’s some non-human characters too.
Adding a LBGT character into a popular game like Overwatch shows that some countries have moved forward with this kind of thing. In the past, we would never see this happen. Russia on the other hand is still sensitive when it comes to the LBGT community.
The country even recently criticized EA Sports for putting “gay propaganda” into FIFA 17 when people were given a free Rainbow attire. It looks like Russia won’t change its stance on homosexuality anytime soon…
