The internet has always gone hand and hand with pornography. All types of images, videos, and services are available at the touch of a button. One such site, Pornhub has been in the gaming news quite a bit here of late. Whether its streaming dirty bits to a 3DS or VR headsets supporting 360 degree ruts, the site seems to have their thumb on the pulse of the gaming world for good reason. Technology, whether it be a way to consume media or distribute, is the name of the game for any website, especially one with the kind of traffic Pornhub gets. Now, Blizzard are trying to stop Overwatch fans who like the characters a little too much from firing off their ultimate, so to speak.
Originally coming from PCGamesN, a company known as Irdeto has been serving the papers to distribution sites and creators across the net in an effort to protect the copyrighted material. For those of you afraid of being caught looking up some spicy Tracer on Widow Maker action or Bastion on Reinhardt (I won’t judge), what’s happening is people are taking the models and assets of the characters and putting them in Sourcemaker Filmmaker. Note that this isn’t a new development as the porn has been around since the game was available in Beta. It’s strange that Irdeto is choosing now, after there is a plethora of content available, even a following on Reddit.
Goes to show how endearing these characters are. I would be honored if people wanted to make fan art of my designs, even it was pornographic.
Oddly enough, I can’t accept these takedowns. Sure, it’s understandable that they’re being made, but the fact that it is being done months too late discredits it. Not only that, but at the end of the day, no matter how spicy things get between these characters, this is essentially fan art and should fall under Fair Use. I’m sure that making these videos and images took someone a lot of time and talent to create. Destroying or removing their work probably won’t stop them, if anything it will double their efforts. The internet is vast, like the ocean, but instead of sea water and fish its porn and cats. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Blizzard is one of the largest, most consistent game developing studios in the world. Millions of players spend hours upon hours with their games. Of course, we can’t expect Blizzard to embrace the pornography, but as of now we don’t know the developers’ view on the issue. The takedowns are coming from a secondary company, even though this may be Blizzard distancing themselves from the phenomenon entirely. Either way, I don’t think this is the end of this issue. Overwatch has become a hit, making a splash even in testing. It’s made its mark on gaming history and like anything that influences pop-culture artists of all sorts enjoy creating something their passionate about.
Discuss all things Overwatch related in the comments below. These sort of copyright related situations interest me and I’ve love to see our readers take on it. Until then, everyone play Bastion and sit in one place. It’s a great strategy and your opponents will respect you for it. Promise.
