The New Year message from Overwatch 2‘s official Twitter account was also in the meme form with Soldier: 76, a character from the game, as the main figure and the line “Happy New Year from Soldier: 67,” which was an allusion to an internet meme. The gaming public reacted in the strongest and most negative way possible. Players expressed their discontent with the game’s content policy, money-making tactics, and communication in a loud manner using the response mechanism provided. Overall, the incident indicated that Blizzard‘s marketing communications and the players’ current expectations were misunderstanding each other.

What a great start to the year, wasn’t it? The official Overwatch account, @PlayOverwatch, just published this thing saying “Happy New Year from Soldier: 67 🎉🫡.” And the “67” meme? It has already been there. But the reaction, oh my God, the reaction was not about celebration. It was like people took their frustration with the game which had been bottled up for months or even years and opened the floodgates. They say the tweet had turned into a magnet attracting every single complaint people had been keeping in for so long.

The replies are just one big collective roll of the eyes. A fellow gamer, GrosSeumdwich, made it clear right away: “We expect a lot of content for this year… Good content obviously.” That was the polite way of putting it. Others were way less calm. LestahMan10 just wrote, “That’s why you’re fcking dead.” Ouch. Another person, BloodFerlan, expressed, “This single-handedly makes me want to never download ow2 again.” Can you believe that a New Year’s tweet had such a strong negative effect? It’s unbelievable.

Besides, the whole meme was not just lame or unfashionable, which many people were saying. User thejuandespi asked a classic question, “Why does anything become lame when big companies lay their hands on it?” which could open a whole debate about the relationship between companies and trends. However, the majority of the anger was directed towards the game. Players are enraged at being denied event skins. Chloe pointed this out: “This after the Talon event having skins none of us have access to anymore is insane. At this point just sell to Netease I beg because they clearly know what they are doing.” That is a pretty harsh proposal – asking a company to sell a game because another publisher is likely to do a better job.

The “Mischief and Magic” event fixing thread, however, was a bit strange with pr0zacz begging, “Please fix mischief and magic I’m begging you.” So even amidst the chaos, there are specific and ongoing issues that gamers are shouting about. And then there were direct demands like the one from Mani: “GIVE US THE SKINS THAT YOU ARE GIVING CHINA.” That’s a whole other topic about region-based exclusives that drive players crazy.

And some of the replies were just hilariously disgusting. Pulse_Ziodyne called it “Worst Tweet of the year already…” and it was still January. Both DenzelEch and Cosm made similar comments to Blizzard’s seasoned marketing team by saying, “Okay, unc lets get your medicine” and “Yeah, whoever posted this under your account has got to go,” respectively. It’s a community-wide moment to facepalm.

What was I saying? Oh yes, the tone. It’s not merely a matter of teasing. It is a real frustration. A user named TerRaPrime_ held that “the pr guy needs to go…. to hell preferably.” That is… rather intense. JustCas077, another user, simply shared a GIF that read “Wrap it up.” The message is crystal clear: players do not want to be served fluff and memes when they ask for solid updates, fixes, and fair access to content; they want to be served. Even a user trying to be positive, such as _Nerdy76, had a back-and-forth with another about whether the meme was good, demonstrating how divisive even a simple joke can be in this environment.

So what is the impact on Overwatch 2? The issue is larger than just a bad tweet. It is a symptom. The tweet acted as a lightning rod, directing all the electricity generated by the storms of complaints about battle passes, cosmetics prices, event structures, and droughts of content straight to it. When a community tells you that a New Year’s greeting of yours becomes a suggestion box for every existing problem, you should accept that there is a communication gap. Players like JustAnotherGlxy are already moving on with, “Ok overwatch it’s January when’s the lootbox revamp?” They are not stuck with the meme; they are switching right away to the next demand, the next expectation. This frustration is common across platforms like PlayStation and Xbox communities.