Blizzard’s Jeff Kaplan on Overwatch pose removal decision

Jeff Kaplan may not have woken up this morning thinking “today I will pen a statement on a rendered butt”, but nonetheless that’s how his day has panned out. He’s returned to the original thread on Tracer’s now famous Overwatch posterior to re-open it for comment and provide a fuller explanation of the decision to (as it turns out) switch out the bum-centric pose with a different one.

I’m going to just paste all of it, because although it may not calm everybody down, it is actually worth reading in full. As posts about rendered bums go, it’s easily in my all time Top 5.

“Well, that escalated quickly…

While I stand by my previous comment, I realize I should have been more clear. As the game director, I have final creative say over what does or does not go into the game. With this particular decision, it was an easy one to make—not just for me, but for the art team as well. We actually already have an alternate pose that we love and we feel speaks more to the character of Tracer. We weren’t entirely happy with the original pose, it was always one that we wrestled with creatively. That the pose had been called into question from an appropriateness standpoint by players in our community did help influence our decision—getting that kind of feedback is part of the reason we’re holding a closed beta test—but it wasn’t the only factor. We made the decision to go with a different pose in part because we shared some of the same concerns, but also because we wanted to create something better.

We wouldn’t do anything to sacrifice our creative vision for Overwatch, and we’re not going to remove something solely because someone may take issue with it. Our goal isn’t to water down or homogenize the world, or the diverse cast of heroes we’ve built within it. We have poured so much of our heart and souls into this game that it would be a travesty for us to do so.

We understand that not everyone will agree with our decision, and that’s okay. That’s what these kinds of public tests are for. This wasn’t pandering or caving, though. This was the right call from our perspective, and we think the game will be just as fun the next time you play it.

If it isn’t, feel free to continue sharing your concerns, thoughts, and feedback about this and other issues you may have with the game, please just keep the discussion respectful.”