The worlds of Overwatch and Borderlands 2 collided for one artist who drew up a fan-made skin that takes elements from both games.
The artist of this hypothetical creation is known as D0114R on Instagram, who has made art for other games including World of Warcraft and Resident Evil 2.
This skin in particular, which is created for Genji, takes heavy inspiration from Zer0, the playable assassin character from Borderlands 2.
This crossover is totally understandable and well-warranted, as both characters wear a mask covering their face and equip a large sword. The inspiration that they draw from each other is certainly obvious.
In his recreation, D0114R portrayed Genji fully equipped in armor resembling Zer0 as he appears in Borderlands 2.
Additionally, the artist recreated his Dragonblade and shurikens in the same art style and light blue color scheme as the character’s appearance in BL2.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Ke6fRI1Wm/
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And while many game companies don’t take initiative on community skin designs all the time, Overwatch (and frankly, Blizzard as a whole) is a bit of an exception.
If anything, the game is known for taking the community’s suggestions to heart as some fan-made concepts such as Symmetra’s Oasis skin and Orisa’s Sanye skin have made it into the game. Additionally, if we look beyond OW, Blizzard has implemented fan-created designs for characters in games like Heroes of the Storm, as well.
In a recent Discord Q&A, the game’s lead Game Director, Jeff Kaplan, said that the team “loves community suggestions and pays close attention”.
With this in mind, it’s easy to go back and look at many other community skin concepts that might have a chance at making it into the game.
But with issues of intellectual property and copyright claims in mind, it’s fair to say that we might not see a crossover between Blizzard and Gearbox unless there’s some major circumstantial changes on the horizon.
Regardless, it’s fun to speculate about crossover events, especially in the vein of skins for some of the game’s most popular characters like Genji.