Overwatch 2 hints at upcoming hero with cryptic in-game message to end second beta

The second Overwatch 2 beta has come to an end, but Blizzard has seemingly teased the next hero to join the roster with a cryptic message for players to decode.

Overwatch 2’s second beta gave fans the chance to try out the game’s newest hero, The Junker Queen, along with enhanced visuals, gameplay updates, a new map, and other features.

With a third beta planned and a new support hero coming with it, players have been eager for news on what they can expect from this unknown character.

Well, as the second beta went offline on July 19, Blizzard snuck in a little code for players to decipher, similar to that of the infamous Sombra ARG from 2016.

Blizzard teases fox hero in Overwatch 2 code

As spotted by Overwatch fan ‘Hayzelet’ on Twitter, right as the beta ended, a mysterious code popped up on screen.

After decoding it from Base64 format, users discovered it read: “what does the fox say?” Luckily, this seems to be more than just a reference to the song by comedy duo Ylvis.

For quite some time now, Blizzard has been teasing a fox-like hero. The hints first began with the launch of the Kanezaka map, but the rumors reached new highs when a fox was shown in OW2’s release date reveal trailer.

Blizzard Entertainment

To add to this, Game Informer Executive Editor Andrew Reiner reportedly saw the silhouettes of four still-unannounced during a visit to Blizzard in October of 2019.

He described one as a “female with short hair” and added how there was a fennec fox-looking creature at her side standing up to her knees.

Considering the code at the end of the beta needed to be deciphered, it’s possible that Blizzard is planning more of these teases in the build-up to the next Overwatch 2 hero, just as they did with Sombra.

We’ll just have to wait and see what the developers have planned as we await news on the third beta and what more the team has planned in the months to come.