Mike Ybarra, the former President of Blizzard Entertainment, has graced us yet again with a terrible take or a terrible joke concerning the upcoming release of Marvel Rivals—we honestly can’t decide which one it is.
“Looks like Overwatch Marvel Rivals ships tomorrow,” Ybarra says. “Much like Light of Motiram (a clear copy of HZD) out of China. I mean, even the character name, Widowmaker in OW vs. Black Widow in Marvel Rivals lol. NetEase/TenCent – all the same.”
First off, boiling down two Chinese gaming giants as “all the same” doesn’t sit right with me. Yes, both companies may share similar values due to their location, but they are, in fact, two different companies that make games. It’d be like me saying that Blizzard and Obsidian are just the same; they’re probably similar in some aspects, but it’s still a vacuous comment.
Aside from that, there’s still a lot to unpack from this statement and even more to set right. Just as a community note—which is now attached to this post—explains, Black Widow isn’t a new character specifically made for Marvel Rivals: “Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, is a popular Marvel hero who made her comic debut in 1964, more than 50 years before Overwatch and Widowmaker were created,” the community note says.
A lot of players reading Ybarra’s post are just as confused as we are. “This kinda reads like an over-exaggeration, and you’d think it’s sarcasm, but then you look that it’s actually from the former president of Blizzard, you realize he’s being completely serious LOL,” Overwatch streamer known as Necros says.
(Image credit: NetEase)
A lot of the replies to Ybarra’s post are also players correcting the rhetoric that Black Widow is a copy of Widowmaker, with the regular amount of angry fist-shaking from players telling Ybarra he’s the reason why Overwatch 2 failed.
Yes, both Widowmaker and Black Widow are snipers, but that’s not entirely out of the question for Black Widow’s character; she is an elite assassin, after all. Black Widow could have been made into a melee hero, but with Wolverine and Iron Fist already filling those roles and no sniper on the roster, it makes more sense that she takes hold of a sniper rifle rather than dual batons.
However, I will say that both characters feel similar to play, although the Marvel Rivals hero has less verticality. But that’s more due to them being snipers and not thanks to their hero design. I feel like I’m playing Widowmaker sometimes in Valorant if I pick up the Operator, but that’s because I’m more wary of flankers and actually making each shot count than I am when using my regular loadout.
When Marvel Rivals first released, there was a lot of talk about it just being an Overwatch 2 clone, but as I said earlier this year when I played the closed beta, this isn’t strictly true. If you look hard enough, you can find plenty of overlap in most of your beloved games. So, just calling Marvel Rivals an Overwatch 2 rip-off without actually trying it out does both games a disservice.
