Overwatch 2 Announces Cowboy Bebop Crossover

Blizzard revealed Overwatch 2‘s next big crossover this week with the game set to get skins and more inspired by the Cowboy Bebop anime. A show that released over 20 years ago now, Cowboy Bebop is staple anime for many and was recently thrust back into the spotlight thanks to a live-action series of the same name that released on Netflix. Whether you know the characters from the shows from the original anime or from the live-action version, you’ll see them soon enough in Overwatch 2 when the crossover drops.

That collab will start on March 12th, Blizzard said. A teaser trailer for the crossover was released today, too, to show off a first look at some of the skin concepts that’ll be releasing as part of this event. Cowboy Bebop fans should have little trouble picking out their favorite characters, and Overwatch 2 players should be able to do the same with their in-game heroes, but Blizzard also broke down exactly who’ll be getting which skins.

Overwatch 2 x Cowboy Bebop Skins

As seen in the Overwatch 2 trailer above that shows off the Cowboy Bebop characters we’ll see translated as Overwatch 2 skins, players can look forward to Cassidy, Ashe, Mauga, Sombra, and Wrecking Ball getting Cowboy Bebop cosmetics. Cassidy will get a Spike Spiegel skin just as players anticipated after seeing the first teaser for the event, Ashe will get a Faye Valentine skin, Mauga will get Jet Black, Sombra will get Ed, and Wrecking Ball will get an Ein skin. Most of these skins are presumed to be paid cosmetics, but Blizzard said that the Ein skin for Wrecking Ball will be given away for free through certain unlock conditions which haven’t yet been made known.

Of course, these are all just stylized looks at the skins since they’re in an animated teaser trailer meant to look like the iconic opening of the Cowboy Bebop anime, so we haven’t actually seen what they’ll look like in-game yet. That’ll change soon, however, with Blizzard confirming plans to reveal the actual skins on March 11th just before the crossover goes live in Overwatch 2.

“We’re honored to be collaborating with one of the most respected anime series of all time in Cowboy Bebop,” Overwatch 2 Associate Director Aimee Dennett said. “This collaboration is a wonderful way to pay homage to the legendary stories, art, animation, and music of the Cowboy Bebop series. We hope its fans and our players have as much fun with what we’re bringing to Overwatch 2 as we did in creating it.”

This is the second anime crossover of its kind that Overwatch 2 has put together. The first of those was with One-Punch Man, a collab which released in February 2023 and introduced skins from that show into the game. From what’s been seen so far, the Cowboy Bebop skins look as though they may be leaning a bit harder into the appearances of the anime characters rather than Overwatch 2 heroes just getting new outfits, though we’ll have to wait for the full reveal next week to know for sure.