The Twitter account of Overwatch is sure of its decision because it has already become very popular with the announcement, and all that in a non-traditional but still fun way like the Overwatch community to interact. The tweet was almost nothing but the text: “Cloudy with a chance of Venture @pantone ☁️” and a link. A company like Pantone, which specializes in colors, is like the real king in the color arena, and along with giving names to the year, they actually have the year colors and all the rest of the stuff. So it seems like Overwatch is not really afraid to give color to its newest character, Venture, which is very big, isn’t it?
Cloud Dancer is a smooth, greyish-beige color swatch that comes with the Pantone and Overwatch logos. It is a pretty cool color. Very natural. Very Venture. The hero is fully geology and digging so one might think that such a name as Cloud Dancer is funny—after all, it implies whether they are dancing on clouds or tunneling through clouds. Who knows? But the Overwatch account did not stop here, they went further. They tweeted again, tagged Pantone again, and asked, “Cloud Dancer might be a name that’s reminiscent of Null Sector? @pantone, do you agree? Is anyone there? 🤖” “Ramattra, the commander of Null Sector, is shown in a gif with a thumbs up” was the animated image used for the question. And it is at this point, dear readers, that the true commotion began.
A portion of the players who witnessed the Ramattra gif immediately thought of the Ramattra dance emote—the current highest meme-request in the game. It might be hard to believe but that is the situation. The only comments on that post are people’s voices saying where is the Ramattra dance emote and Ramattra thumbs up emote and Give us ram dance. One player, @schokohimbeer, even went as far as to assert, “Tempting with Ramattra posts is not so nice… Ramattra fans are eager to know the whereabouts of the dance emote…” Such is the mood. The digital marketing team of Overwatch is out front playing 4D chess, giving out a Venture color, and maybe (though accidentally or deliberately) activating the entire Ramattra fandom. This is a classic moment of the Overwatch community.
Yet, the replies are even more insane. It’s not just about Ramattra, but he is definitely a large part of it. Other players are just very, very much into Venture. I mean, really obsessed with them. User @LESBIANSFORLADY said “can we get a naked venture skin please” which is quite a bold request. This, along with it, gave rise to a whole mini-thread of people stating they want naked venture and agreeing and saying things like “i really want naked venture” and “#needthat”. The vibe is, therefore, quite mixed. You have the color lovers, such as @ElvisBadger who just said “I like this color better,” and then the… very enthusiastic lovers. It is a spectrum.
Then the confused ones appear. User @TheMaskedFools just wanted to know “WHAT DOES THIS MEAN” and it is a reasonable question! What does it mean? Is it nothing but a cool collab for fun? Is Cloud Dancer to become the new skin color? A new map theme? A whole Overwatch collection by Pantone? The ambiguity of the tweet is driving people nuts in a good way. Another player, @ItemsENABLED, tried to figure out the tiny rock or tooth or whatever it is in the color swatch image and joked, “Is that a piece of tooth or a rock?” You see, this is the high-quality content for which we are here. Intensive lore analysis.
Such a chaotic atmosphere of reactions is exactly what makes following the social media of the game so fun. One moment, it is professional and calm color partnership, then comes the loudest shouting for a mechanical monk to get down on the dance floor, next is requesting for an absurdly impossible hero skin, and back to the professional and calm color partnership! The Overwatch account has its strategy in place and all the steps, including the Ramattra gif, were planned well ahead. They are surfing the meme wave, feeding the monster. It is community management 101 but with an injection of pure and unfiltered chaos.
So what can we deduce from this scenario? Overwatch 2’s Venture is creating a huge buzz, being assigned a Pantone color is definitely a recognition outside the regular gaming area for the character but still not as much as the players have spoken and their message is loud and clear—that they do recognize a nice muted beige but what they. The game’s developer, Blizzard, is known for such engaging campaigns. This kind of cross-promotion is common in the industry, seen with partners like PlayStation and services like Xbox Game Pass.
