Controversy Surrounds Overwatch 2 Skin Contest Winners
Overwatch 2’s “If The Crisis Had Never Happened” skin design contest, run by the game’s development team, has quickly become a mess. The results were announced on October 16, but within two days three of the winning entries were accused of using AI, plagiarizing earlier work, or recycling previously published material.
The D.Va and Ana Controversies
The first dispute involved the third‑place entry “Animal Maid Café”. After verification, the organizers determined that the submission was created with AI, violating the contest rules, and consequently revoked its award. The prize was then passed to the next‑ranked entry.
Second‑place winner “Funeral of Love D.Va”, a skin that omitted the mech, sparked a separate controversy. Colombian artist Karulox claimed on X that the design copied a 2015 concept of theirs, and the allegation spread rapidly among Chinese players who reported the submission.
Another third‑place entry, “Ana: Silver Gift”, also faced scrutiny. Players noted that the artwork had previously appeared in a collaboration with a fan‑run café in May. The creator said they refined the original before submitting, but the contest requires wholly original works created specifically for the event.
With a 20,000‑yuan prize (about $3,000) and the possibility of official skin implementation, the presence of AI and plagiarism concerns is especially troubling.
Chinese outlet SMZDM reported that most criticism targets the judging process: community votes accounted for only 10 % of the final score, while 90 % came from an official panel that apparently failed to vet the entries.
The official winners page still lists “Animal Maid Café” and “Ana: Silver Gift” as third‑place winners and “Funeral of Love D.Va” as second place.
However, a Reddit discussion claims that “Ana: Silver Gift” has been moved up to second place and that “Mizuki” and “Anran” now occupy the third‑place spots, though these have also been criticized for not matching the contest’s theme.
Overall, the swift accusations of AI use and plagiarism highlight the difficulty of ensuring originality in a community‑driven contest where the judging panel’s oversight was questioned.
