Overwatch director finally addresses the Tracer butt controversy a decade later.

Have you ever seen someone lose it while drawing a police investigation chalk outline around a video game character’s backside? If you weren’t there, you might not fully grasp the absurdity, but this was the scene back in 2016 when Blizzard altered Tracer’s victory pose. Now, a decade later, former Overwatch director Jeff Kaplan is finally clearing the air on what has become one of gaming’s most ridiculous controversies.

For those who remember, Tracer, the speedy hero, originally had a post-match pose that showcased her looking over her shoulder, with her rear prominently displayed. After a patch, she still looked back but was now balancing on one foot. While the new pose still highlighted her figure, many players were convinced that Blizzard had intentionally toned down Tracer’s backside to make it less provocative.

The intensity with which some players reacted to this change was astonishing. In a YouTube video comparing the two poses, comments from 2026 still lament the alteration.

“Just for this they should really go bankrupt,” one user commented in March.

“The moment Blizzard officially started to die,” another remarked last year.

The irony is that, despite all the outrage, it turns out people were getting worked up over nothing. Kaplan, who has recently been candid about his departure from Overwatch 2 while promoting his new survival game, The Legend of California, addressed this long-standing conspiracy during a late March livestream. Although the stream is a few weeks old, this particular revelation has only recently gained traction on social media.

“We actually didn’t nerf Tracer’s butt,” Kaplan stated in response to a Twitch chat question. “It stayed exactly the same.”

He quickly moved on to other comments, but this revelation left some viewers stunned. “No way, it was huge at launch,” one reply exclaimed.

Even a decade later, the gaming industry still faces periodic controversies over the design choices for female characters. Yet, in an era of games like Marvel Rivals, which unabashedly flaunts thongs and skin, reflecting on this past controversy feels almost nostalgic.

Kaplan described the backlash as the “biggest fuck you moment I’ve had in my career.”