During their opening ceremony on Friday, Blizzard announced the Nexus Challenge, a new Heroes Of The Storm event starting November 15th and running until January 4th. Like last year’s Cho’Gall’s Buddy Brawl event, players will need a buddy to tag along. Why would I, begins your hypothetical friend, want to stop playing Overwatch to play HOTS?
That sweet, sweet Oni Genji skin, dude.
We’ve all been wrecked by a Genji on the opposing team. We’ve all whispered demon under our breath as our bullets return fire in a single swipe of steel. Blizzard is no stranger to crossovers – HOTS is built on it – but this latest event does seem intent to capitalize on the runaway success of Blizzard’s newest family member. Earlier this year brought Tracer and Zarya into HOTS, but playing as your favorite character in two different games is probably not as appealing as looking like a Japanese folklore demon.
All it takes is fifteen matches and players will unlock the Genji Oni skin, in addition to an Oni Genji portrait and Zarya unlocked for play in HOTS. Those who brave thirty matches without wanting to break their keyboards in half will be heartily reward with even more HOTS goodies, including four additional Heroes, a mount and a 30-day stimpack.
While I’m sure every game in Blizzard’s catalog boasts a healthy player base, it’s hard not to notice just how much more popular Overwatch is. Blizzard’s attempt at leveraging that popularity seems a little blatant, but they are also one of the few companies in video games that possess that leverage in the first place. Blizzard wants all of their games to play nice, but for now, they would really like it if you would play with HOTS. Just for a little bit. Give it some love.
Do it for the Genji skin.
