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Overwatch comic locked in Russia due to “gay propaganda”

Latest comic not readable in Russia as Tracer character established as homosexual

Overwatch players in Russia are unable to read the latest comic based on Blizzard's popular online shooter due to one of the characters being gay.

Kotaku reports that only the cover is available, with a message locking out any Russian readers. The message translates to: "In accordance with Russian law, we cannot share this comic with our players on territory of Russian Federation."

The law it refers to is Russia's 2013 ruling that anything deemed to be "gay propaganda" cannot be promoted towards minors. This extends to public demonstrations, speeches, discussions of gay rights and, apparently, video game comics.

Overwatch's supposed violation of this law stems from the new comic's scenes in which Tracer kisses her partner Emily, establishing the character as gay. That, as far as we can tell, is it.

The news follows a rally by several Russian MPs against FIFA 17, after EA decided to back a campaign raising awareness of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia amongst football fans. The publisher showed its support by temporarily adding rainbow football kits to the game's Ultimate Team mode.

We have contacted Blizzard for comment.

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James Batchelor

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James Batchelor is Editor-in-Chief at GamesIndustry.biz. He has been a B2B journalist since 2006, and an author since he knew what one was