If you happened to be passing through Times Square in Manhattan on Monday, June 24 at 10 p.m. Eastern Time, you might have seen some images of Venture, the newest hero from Overwatch 2 ,on one of the big screens. The digital billboards included pics of the drill-sporting, non-binary archeologist playing with their pet rock, and also one of their head sticking out of a toilet, a reference to a bizarre meme But why did this happen? Was it an unorthodox play by Blizzard to promote its free-to-play hero shooter as it enters its eleventh season? No, it was a group of Venture fans who thought it would be funny.
Ashton “TheTrainiscool” Alexander spearheaded the idea with a group of Overwatch 2 players who each contributed an image to the roughly 15-second slideshow. The friends met through Twitter and have since moved onto Discord to play Overwatch 2 together. Alexander told Kotaku through a DM that he, as well as Twitter users @Swirlymark, @rnaidens, @sexdisrespecter, @FlingLatraniz16, @Dorkp0rk, @beelolbop, and one anonymous fan, all came together to place these images in one of the busiest areas of New York City because they thought it “would be really funny.” But Alexander also says he believes Venture deserves “more love and recognition” within the Overwatch community.
“I really like Venture’s personality,” Alexander said. “They’re so energetic and fun! They’re a blast to play too! I think they’re probably the most fun dps added to the game in a long time!”
Alexander got Venture’s mug on one of the big screens through the TSX app, which lets you upload a video and pay for it to air on a screen in Time Square. The 10 p.m. time slot only cost the group $US40. Each image in the slideshow has a letter next to it, which corresponds with the first initial of the person who submitted the image to Alexander when he crowdsourced pictures for the slideshow. This included an image of Venture remaking the “Skibidi Toilet” meme with their head sticking out of a toilet.
Twitter user @MissEcho_ managed to capture the video live from Time Square, and members of the Overwatch 2 team, the community, and even Venture’s voice actor Valeria Rodríguez took notice.
Alexander was “shocked” to see the “silly video” he made reach Rodríguez, but they told him he was “a legend” for making it happen.
“I love their works as Venture and Strawberry Crepe Cookie from the game CookieRun Kingdom,” he said. “They’ve actually inspired me to try and get into voice acting myself!”
Members of the Overwatch community have pointed out that fans have done a lot of heavy lifting for promoting Venture, especially when compared to Blizzard. Though the character got a brief animated trailer and a comic for Pride Month, their in-game cosmetics have been sparse since they launched in season 10. They didn’t have a Legendary skin when they debuted, nor do they have an Origin Story video that has typically been the standard for every hero. Venture was featured heavily in Overwatch 2’s Pride Month event with to the aforementioned comic and a skin that features the purple, black, yellow, and white colors of the non-binary flag. But there are a few omissions that are odd compared to the typical Overwatch 2 hero rollout.
“Venture has been my favorite hero release since Overwatch 2 launch,” Alexander said. “I was super excited for them but was very disappointed with how they launched. I think Blizzard really needs to show the archeologists more love!”
With Venture, Overwatch 2 now has 40 heroes, with the 41st being a support character codenamed Space Ranger that’s expected to launch in season 12. The hero shooter’s eleventh season is underway and brought back the much-requested Pink Mercy skin to benefit breast cancer research.
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