I’m seeing tons of content creators lashing out at “misinformation” online about OW2. We seem to be reaching a point where the reality of OW’s reputation is running up against OW’s biggest fans’ hopes for this game. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many OW content creators panicked like this across the board.
They aren’t just picking out random internet comments to dunk on, they are going after major gaming outlets for writing critical pieces about OW2. Even articles that simply transcribe Blizzard’s new policies are being called “misinformation” (which is itself misinformation, ironically).
It’s not just random streamers freaking out, either. Prominent OWL personalities, like AVRL and Custa, have been lashing out and attacking anyone who dares to be critical of OW2. I’m seeing a new level of combativeness here, beyond the usual hardcore vs. casual divide.
There are certainly a lot of misunderstandings going around about OW2 right now, as has been the case since 2019. But there’s a level of desperation that is starting to show among people who are heavily invested in OW’s future (and not just as players). And weirdly, there seems to be no such urgency from Blizzard themselves, who don’t appear interested in clarifying anything directly.
This all seems like the natural result of 1) Blizzard being so terrible with communication, 2) Blizzard’s lousy reputation over the past few years, and 3) Blizzard’s decision to make OW content creators their marketing department, forcing them to take the full force of the internet’s rage.
The general sense that I get from most content creators is that they are genuinely pumped for Overwatch 2. After all, why wouldn’t they be? New content means increased viewership for them. I would hardly classify them as “panicked”.
As for misinformation on social media about the game… have you read random twitter thread comments? Very few people seem to actually be legitimately informed as to what the game even is or how it works. That’s obviously Blizzard’s fault for how poorly they have communicated over the past few years.
Can’t blame the content creators for getting a little frustrated when everytime they make a post they’ve got Timothy in their thread going “Im not buying Overwatch 2, can’t believe they’re cancelling the PvE” or some other stupid rhetoric. Obviously some of these people say things they shouldn’t, and I am sure there are some replies these people would like to have back, but I feel like this post is a little bit of an exaggeration here.
It is not even misinformation. Time for them to realize whatever Blizzard whispered into their ears behind closed doors is not happening. They were fooled surprising absolutely nobody.
I’ve seen as much misinformation from content creators trying to spin every piece of bad news about OW2 as “good, actually” as I have seen from random nobodies online.
I’ve seen OWL personalities mocking people for not having the correct phone service provider (which of course prompts all their followers to do the same).
I’ve seen OWL personalities calling out articles for being full of lies when they simply aren’t.
In part, I agree, (they do have skin in the game) but I would also like to point out that streamers with well established communities jump games all the time. Initially they tend to take a small hit to some of their fans who only watch because of the game they specifically play/cover.
However, they usually jump ship to a more popular game, as it’s a better career move. They tend to quickly gain way more viewers than they lost, due to how discoverability works on platforms like YouTube and Twitch.
Most big time Overwatch Content Creators are only still making content for Overwatch because they actually truly do love the game. They could be more successful elsewhere, but they choose to stay anyway. A lot of them will get a payoff for their patience very soon, as I’m sure launch day will be very big for them.
Suffice to say, I do not think anybody is “panicking”.
I don’t know what twitter threads and YouTube comments you’re reading, but I doubt this is true, even if it is your anecdotal experience.
That seems highly inappropriate and downright toxic, as opposed to “misinformation” or “panicking”. Can you link a clip of one of these people doing this?
Either way, seems more like a matter of an individual being extremely unprofessional than a matter of misinformation.
They’re not going after actual critics of the game, they’re going after the people who either blindly hate the game for no reason other than that it’s Overwatch, and people who spread misinformation. Mainly the misinformation.
I saw someone telling others that to play OW2 you needed to show your ID and use your microphone. That’s what CCs don’t like.
Yes, they literally are. They are going after major gaming outlets, people who professionally talk about games. (I’m not saying they aren’t allowed to, I’m just correcting your mistaken impression that they aren’t doing that.)
A tweet from AVRL, prominent OWL caster, quoting a post about 2 separate articles: “I’m tired of being nice about it so I’m just gonna [bleep] say it. This is the [bleep] right here. Manufactured outrage from the internet’s most concentrated density of misinformation. The professional astroturfers who call themselves “journalists” really out did themselves today.”
To be fair, the headlines of the articles in question were made specifically to be more appealing to click, not as an actual review. In this case, it was hopping on the hate train.
This isn’t specific to Overwatch, or gaming, it happens with all major media outlets.
No, they were factually correct summaries of the information contained within them. They are headlines, they can’t contain all necessary context, that’s what the article is for. There is nothing false or misleading about those headlines, nor is there anything false or misleading in the articles themselves.
If you just want to yell “fake news!” at everything that isn’t a literal press release from Blizzard, you’re gonna have a bad time. That’s not how the world works, nor should it.
This isn’t a “factually correct summary”. This is what I was talking about - a headline that hops on the OW2 hate train. Stuff like this is common in every news category (especially politics).
I get that you have to make a headline, obviously, but you can do so without making it inflammatory.
And this was the main article that the CCs had a problem with, IIRC.
