Blizzard reveals an Overwatch x Nier Automata collab too early, and you'll never guess who's getting the new skins

Blizzard has seemingly jumped the gun on revealing a new Overwatch collaboration event with Nier: Automata. I've lost count of how many games the Yoko Taro and PlatinumGames universe has appeared in at this point, and it's time to check another heavy hitter off the list. Fresh off its major rejuvenation with the Overwatch Season 1 launch, the FPS game is actually going a little broader with the character selection it's bringing to the table than most do. However, you're not going to be particularly shocked when I tell you who's first in line for the new skins.

Overwatch is going from strength to strength right now. Blizzard's decision to drop the '2' and reinvent itself once again, with a bold new era that will see a total of ten characters coming in 2026, has been met with record population counts. It's routinely pulling in 100,000-player peaks on Steam alone (doubly impressive when you consider that many, like me, will still be playing via the Battlenet launcher). Then came the news of top-down mobile game Overwatch Rush this week, and now we've got the reveal of five skins as part of the 'Project Yorha' collab.

The glimpse we got to see comes from a now-removed YouTube Short, and it was oddly plain in its formatting. Within a few short hours, it had already vanished from the platform, but not before its preview of the characters on offer was captured by the likes of fan page Overwatch Cavalry. From left to right, we've got Lifeweaver as Adam, Vendetta as A2, Wuyang as 9S, Kiriko as 2B, and Mercy as the Commander. Yes, Kiriko and Mercy fans, your time has finally come.

In all seriousness, while Mercy is certainly a good fit here, Kiriko feels like a strange choice for 2B. Personally I'd have gone with Genji - he uses a sword and is famed among Overwatch fans for his strong backside - but perhaps the world isn't ready for that one. I also can't help but feel like we've missed a few other tricks: Bastion as sad robot Pascal, perhaps, or a Wrecking Ball skin that turns into a giant, rolling Emil head?

As it stands, we've got a total of four support skins and one DPS. As someone who plays quite a lot of support, I won't moan too much, but the balance does feel a little off. Perhaps it's a push to get more people to queue for the role, but if that were the case then why do tanks get no love at all? Newcomer Domina could certainly have picked up the 2B spot - her weapons don't match, but neither do Kiriko's, so that doesn't appear to be a concern.

In the meantime, Blizzard's latest developer blog reveals that Jetpack Cat was originally going to have a projectile-slowing ultimate, as a nod to her feline reflexes, but that "when Jetpack Cats on either side of the match used the ult simultaneously, the game server also went into slow motion." I'm rather thankful for that one missing the boat; she's already proven a real demon in Season 1 so far (if she ever makes it through the ban phase).

According to Blizzard's now-removed teasers, the Overwatch x Nier: Automata event 'Project Yorha' begins on Tuesday March 10. Expect a proper reveal to come closer to that date.