[GameSpot] - Overwatch Summer Games 2021 Begins Tuesday, New Skins Debuted

[343iBot]

The Overwatch Summer Games event is beginning on Tuesday, July 20. As usual Blizzard has started to tease some of the limited-time cosmetics you'll be able to earn during the event.

In the announcement posted to Twitter we can see new skins featuring Symmetra as a mermaid, Ashe and Bob in casual beachwear, and Mei as a '50s-era ice cream parlor worker. A follow-up tweet showed off more of the Symmetra skin and gave it the name, Mermaid Symmetra, so we'd expect further teasers to come leading up to the event.

The annual event is also near-guaranteed to bring back Lucioball, the exclusive brawl that has been paired with the Summer Games event every year since it started in 2016. That 3v3 mode is loosely based on soccer, and the 2020 games introduced a variant called Lucioball Remix.

Oh Snap!
Overwatch Summer Games returns on July 20! pic.twitter.com/7ViDfCxGq6

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) July 18, 2021

Long time no sea.
Plunge into Overwatch Summer Games as Mermaid Symmetra, beginning July 20! pic.twitter.com/gcpooD5FHz

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) July 18, 2021

The original Overwatch Summer Games coincided with the 2016 Rio Olympics, and many of the cosmetics were the Overwatch crew representing their home countries. That raised questions of whether the event was specifically limited to the Olympic Games, but they've been running every year since, and the skins have transitioned to being themed after more general summertime activities.

Given that the Tokyo Summer Olympics were postponed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, this will be the first year since the original in which the Overwatch Summer Games roughly coincides with the summer Olympics. The opening ceremonies in Tokyo will be held this Friday.

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