Overwatch game director Aaron Keller addressed fan concerns yesterday regarding the design of Anran, a recently added character, following criticism from players and the character’s voice actor.
Anran officially joined the Overwatch roster on Tuesday, February 10, with the launch of Season 1: Conquest, marking the game’s transition away from the “2” in its title and a soft reboot. While initial excitement surrounded the character, fueled by concept art, a promotional comic, and an
animated short released last August, the in-game design sparked a different reaction.
The criticism centers on what fans are calling “same face syndrome,” alleging a lack of diversity in character design within Overwatch, particularly among East Asian women.
What exactly is “same face syndrome” in Overwatch? It refers to the perception that several female characters of East Asian descent share strikingly similar facial features, diminishing their individual visual identities.
As reports indicated last week, Anran’s final design bears a resemblance to Kiriko and Juno, deviating from the sharper features and longer nose showcased in earlier promotional materials. The current design features a rounder face and a smaller nose, similar to those of Kiriko and Juno.
Fareeha Andersen, Anran’s voice actor, expressed her disappointment via her
TikTok account. “I got to mourn Anran between the design I had hoped for her and the design we ended up with,” Andersen said in the video. “Because I think in her comic and the cinematic Elemental Kin, there was a precedent set by it. There was an unspoken promise that said, ‘We are going to challenge the beauty standards plaguing, ransacking media these days,’ right? The Ozempic-chic, the ‘contour your nose, you have no nose, the tiniest nose,’ and I think because of that precedence, people feel understandably let down.”
Andersen shared that she communicated her concerns, and those of the community, to the development team, encouraging others to do the same “with boldness and kindness.”
Keller
released a video update on social media yesterday addressing the feedback. “The team is currently discussing what it’d take to make Anran look and feel more like the fierce older sister that we all envisioned her to be,” Keller stated. “We’re so proud of the work that our team has put into Anran and the rest of the five heroes launching in season 1, and we agree that she can be even better if we get this aspect of her right in game.”
Keller added that the team aims to implement a design update sometime during Season 1, acknowledging the complexity of the hero models and the need for thorough testing.
In related Overwatch news, developers at the studio formed a nearly 200-person union at Blizzard in May of last year. Redhill Games, a former co-developer of Overwatch 2, announced undisclosed job cuts in November following a restructuring program.
