In fact, much of the situation remains unclear. We do now know that Ellie was a fake name and account, with many believing a player known as Punisher was behind her creation. However, Overwatch developer Blizzard stopped short of confirming this one way or another. But the developer does state that the player behind the Ellie identity has not previously appeared in any Overwatch Contenders or Overwatch League teams.
More than that though, it seems as if Second Wind - or at least a portion of the team - was in the know concerning Ellie’s real identity. Blizzard also went on to confirm that Second Wind did request that Ellie’s true name not be published on the Overwatch Contenders League website, but also that Second Wind did not even provide Blizzard with the player’s true name, just the Battletag.
How much further this controversy goes remains to be seen, as many may still clamor to know Ellie’s true identity. And considering Overwatch was one of Twitter’s most talked about games in 2018, this seems sure to keep people talking for less than ideal reasons.
As part of the process to officially add a player to a Contenders or Overwatch League roster, we do background checks to ensure that players are who they say they are as well as meet other eligibility requirements, and will take action against players if we discover any behavior that warrants it."
Taking all of this into consideration, it’s hard to say how this will impact the popular team-based first person shooter. It seems possible that this controversy dies over the next few weeks, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if this Ellie controversy had long-reaching consequences. Overwatch has previously been no stranger to controversy and drama, but it’s easy to see how this Ellie “experiment” could be especially damaging.
Overwatch is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Game Informer
