Overwatch skin contest pulls a winner over AI use
Days after Overwatch's fan skin design contest named its winners, one entry lost its prize over AI use and two more face plagiarism and originality claims.
LandGadget Newsroom · · 3 min read
A fan art contest meant to celebrate Overwatch players' creativity has turned into an argument about AI and originality. Within two days of the results, organisers of the second "If The Crisis Had Never Happened" skin design contest, overseen by the game's development team, stripped one winning entry of its award. Two more winners are now facing claims of copying or reusing old work, TheGamer reports, citing Taiwanese outlet 4Gamers.
How it unfolded
The contest so far
16 Oct
Winners announced
The contest names its winning fan-made skin designs.
Within two days
AI entry loses its prize
Third-place entry Animal Maid Café is disqualified after allegations of AI use; the award passes to the next-ranked design.
Within two days
D.Va design accused of copying
Colombian artist Karulox says the second-place Funeral of Love D.Va skin copies a design they made in 2015.
Within two days
Ana entry questioned
Players point out that the Ana: Silver Gift design was first made for a fan-run café collaboration in May.
18 Oct
Results still in flux
The official winners page still lists the disputed entries, while unconfirmed Reddit posts describe a reshuffled ranking.
What the organisers said
The statement on Animal Maid Café, as translated by TheGamer, says the team reviewed the discussion around the entry and found that "the creation method used for this entry does not comply with the guidelines set forth for this contest". It did not spell out the evidence.
The other two cases are less clear. The D.Va accusation spread quickly among Chinese players, many of whom reported the entry to the organisers, but there has been no ruling yet. The creator of Ana: Silver Gift says they refined the café design before entering. The contest rules, however, require entries to be original works made specifically for the contest.
According to a Reddit thread, Ana: Silver Gift has moved up to second place and new third-place entries have been named. LandGadget could not confirm this, and the official page had not changed when TheGamer checked. Some fans also say the replacement designs don't fit the contest's theme.
Why it matters
Fan contests often promise winners real recognition, and some studios turn the best designs into in-game items. That makes them a target for AI-generated entries and recycled art, and it puts pressure on organisers to check submissions before they announce results. The same tension runs through the wider industry, from AI art in games to the question of who owns digital content, which we looked at in our coverage of the Power to the Players Act.
If you play Overwatch on PC, our gaming monitor guide explains which refresh rates and panel types matter for fast shooters.
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