Overwatch’s new YOASOBI collaboration is live right now, and honestly? This is exactly the kind of event the game needs more of, because hey, we all love new collaborations which translates into new cool events and cosmetics!
Who are YOASOBI?
If you’re not already deep in the anime and J-pop world, YOASOBI might be a new name to you (like to me – even though I’ve watched a few anime). They’re a Japanese duo formed in 2019 made up of songwriter and producer Ayase and vocalist Ikura. Their whole concept is built around a genuinely clever idea: turning short fiction into music, with their narrative-driven songs originally based on stories submitted to a creative writing website. Every track starts with a story, and the music is built to carry that story’s emotion.
They broke through during the pandemic with their debut single “Yoru ni Kakeru” (Into the Night), which spread virally and became a phenomenon. From there, they kept building: writing anime opening themes, collaborating with major brands until their 2023 song “Idol,” written for the anime Oshi no Ko, held the number one spot on Billboard Japan’s Hot 100 for 22 consecutive weeks, breaking an all-time record, and became the first Japanese-language song to top the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart. If you’ve spent any time on anime TikTok or YouTube in the last few years, you’ve almost certainly heard their music without knowing it was them.
The reason the Overwatch pairing makes so much sense is that YOASOBI’s entire identity is built on storytelling through music which is exactly what Blizzard needed for a collab tied to a decade of Shimada lore.
What’s in the Overwatch x YOASOBI Collab?
The event runs from 30 June to 20 July 2026 and introduces six new Legendary skins for Kiriko, Genji, Hanzo, Mizuki, Juno, and Anran. The full lineup is:
- Fox Star Kiriko
- Dragon Star Genji
- Dragon Star Hanzo
- Spirit Star Mizuki
- Fire Star Anran
- Space Star Juno
All six skins feature enhanced ambient VFX and kanji-inspired motifs, and each comes with a dance emote set to YOASOBI’s original track “Orion.” So it’s not a generic emote but choreography made specifically for this collab, pretty cool. The sound effects are also quite subtle so they are not too distracting when you are playing.
Emojis:
Beyond the skins, the in-game shop has added over 40 cosmetics total, including name cards, player icons, voice lines, weapon charms, and sprays. You can grab everything via the YOASOBI Mega Bundle (currently at a 66% discount for 6,900 Coins), or pick individual hero bundles at 2,800 Coins each. If you’re planning to grab two or more hero skins, the mega bundle is obviously the better deal.
There are also eight free challenges to complete during the event, rewarding name cards, voice lines, a weapon charm, a player icon, and 30,000 XP.
Blizzard actually commissioned YOASOBI to write a completely original song based on Overwatch lore.
“Orion” is built around the Shimada brothers’ reunion story, with Kiriko sitting at the centre. The song title itself references Orion’s Belt: three stars, separated but always in view, as a metaphor for Kiriko, Genji, and Hanzo (source: The Magic Rain). The song is the opening track on YOASOBI’s new EP THE BOOK for,, which also has a limited Overwatch vinyl edition. And the animated music video (coming soon) is being produced by A-1 Pictures, the studio behind Sword Art Online and Solo Leveling, according to Kotaku.
Here’s a teaser:
There’s also a new short story, “The Fall of a Sparrow,” written by E.C. Myers, where Genji returns to Tokyo to investigate the Hashimoto clan’s growing influence and runs into Hanzo and Kiriko along the way. It’s clearly building toward something larger in Season 3.
Overwatch collaborations can often feel like they exist purely to sell skins, like a big name attached to characters who have no real connection to the game’s world. This one is different. YOASOBI actually did their homework, studying the Shimada lore going back a decade, and Blizzard gave them the creative space to write something that feels specific to these characters.
The skins look great (they also have special visual and sound effects) and you can also earn free cosmetics through gameplay is a nice touch.
The collaboration ends 20 July 2026, so if you’re thinking about getting the skins, don’t sit on it too long.
Official Overwatch gameplay trailer with the new cosmetics:
