Overwatch League MVPs will no longer get their own unique skins

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2020 MVP Fleta's Echo outfit will be the last Pro-inspired hero skin.

This week, Blizzard announced two new skins for Overwatch, celebrating 2020 League winners San Francisco Shock and seasonal MVP Byung-sun "Fleta" Kim. But this'll be the last time a League MVP is given their own cosmetic—and it isn't hard to guess why.

Overwatch started the trend of rewarding players with their own skins in 2019, beginning with a tentacular Zenyatta look for previous-year MVP Sung-hyeon "JJoNak" Bang. Last year, an alien Zarya skin was awarded to Jay "Sinatraa" Won—and it's here that the idea of immortalising a pro player within the game becomes contentious.

Earlier this month, the former OWL pro player (having moved to Valorant last April) was accused of sexual assault by an ex-girlfriend. Following the accusations, Won was dropped by his Valorant team, while Blizzard announced that it would be removing his MVP skin from Overwatch, offering refund credits to folks who'd already bought it.

Won denied the allegations in a statement on social media. Regardless, even if Blizzard hasn't explicitly cited it as a reason for killing the MVP skin program, the idea of cosplaying someone accused of abuse is an uncomfortable note for Overwatch.

So, while teams may continue to get their own victory cosmetics, Fleet's Echo skin will be the last time a player will be rewarded with an MVP hero skin. It's a decent skin, too, with a polarising good/evil dynamic that Blizzard says reflects "both Fleta’s calm personality and his aggressive in-game playstyle". Bit of a shame we won't see more like it, really.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Natalie Clayton
Natalie Clayton
Features Producer

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.