[UPDATE]

Jeff Kaplan has made an official response regarding the Tracer controversy:

Well, that escalated quickly…
While I stand by my previous comment, I realize I should have been more clear. As the game director, I have final creative say over what does or does not go into the game. With this particular decision, it was an easy one to make—not just for me, but for the art team as well. We actually already have an alternate pose that we love and we feel speaks more to the character of Tracer. We weren’t entirely happy with the original pose, it was always one that we wrestled with creatively. That the pose had been called into question from an appropriateness standpoint by players in our community did help influence our decision—getting that kind of feedback is part of the reason we’re holding a closed beta test—but it wasn’t the only factor. We made the decision to go with a different pose in part because we shared some of the same concerns, but also because we wanted to create something better.
We wouldn’t do anything to sacrifice our creative vision for Overwatch, and we’re not going to remove something solely because someone may take issue with it. Our goal isn’t to water down or homogenize the world, or the diverse cast of heroes we’ve built within it. We have poured so much of our heart and souls into this game that it would be a travesty for us to do so.
We understand that not everyone will agree with our decision, and that’s okay. That’s what these kinds of public tests are for. This wasn’t pandering or caving, though. This was the right call from our perspective, and we think the game will be just as fun the next time you play it.
If it isn’t, feel free to continue sharing your concerns, thoughts, and feedback about this and other issues you may have with the game, please just keep the discussion respectful.
Thanks,
Jeffrey

Kaplan proceeded to unlock the thread, allowing the discussion to continue.

[ORIGINAL STORY]

If you’ve been following the community forums for Blizzard’s Overwatch, you might have run into a bit of controversy over a recent change.

An Overwatch forum user had made a thread a few days ago regarding the character Tracer. The user went on about how much they loved the character, until they brought up one of her poses (seen above), which the user believed turned her into a sex symbol.

This caused a heated debate to break out into the thread, with most users opposing the OP’s suggestion . That was until today, where Game Director Jeff Kaplan made this statement:

We’ll replace the pose. We want *everyone* to feel strong and heroic in our community. The last thing we want to do is make someone feel uncomfortable, under-appreciated or misrepresented.Apologies and we’ll continue to try to do better.

The thread was then promptly locked down.

This caused a backlash within the community, with many users voicing their displeasure over the change. One notable example is the response of a mother regarding the whole debacle.

It is yet to be seen if Blizzard will go back on their decision to remove the pose.