Fandom Rivalry / Overwatch

• With Team Fortress 2, mostly thanks to Overwatch having similar gameplay and general aesthetics as Team Fortress, though it can fluctuate between this and Friendly Fandoms, as below. The big factor in this rivalry is Overwatch cannibalizing Team Fortress's player base, and Valve changing TF2 to be similar to Overwatch by introducing an experience system and competitive mode in order to better compete with Blizzard.
• Also in a large one with Battleborn, another anticipated-prior-to-release team-focused FPS by Gearbox Software, thanks to both games combining cartoon-esque, Pixar-like visuals with colorful characters like Team Fortress 2 (and to a lesser extent, Defense of the Ancients and League of Legends). Most of it seems to come from the two games being promoted and released at around the same time, with the promotions for both games making them out to be largely similar.^note Prior to release, some of the more prominent trailers for both titles were more character-focused than gameplay focused, so all most people gleaned from them was that they were both FPS games with characters that have more established personalities than the usual fare. This is despite the two games having significantly different gameplay experiences (both have MOBA-like characters, but Overwatch is a more traditional FPS with a focus on PVP and team-play à la Team Fortress, while Battleborn blends the MOBA genre with many FPS elements and focuses more on PVE in its multiplayer aspects). As time passed, the rivalry eventually faded (at least from Overwatch's perspective) into the background as Battleborn itself struggled to maintain mainstream relevance (essentially becoming a niche game), while Overwatch remains popular with a larger portion of gamers.
• After the furor for Battleborn died down, Paladins is now seen as a more proper "new-blood" competitor to Overwatch (as opposed to the granddaddy Team Fortress 2), as both Overwatch and Paladins share similar mechanics and identity (cartoony characters, ultimate abilities, focus on teamplay, various MOBA elements), much the same ones from Battleborn. There is a somewhat inane amount of largely irrational hatred towards Paladins for supposedly copying/cloning Overwatch, despite the games being developed roughly concurrently and the former has significant differences between them (Paladins has an item shop, card loadouts, and a talents system, to diversify playstyle of characters), though the two games are clearly in the same genre, as opposed to Battleborn. The more well-informed Overwatch fans are more laidback towards Paladins, however, and several people just... Play both.
• Gigantic got the brunt of it by being a third-person-shooter and MOBA mashup with a distinct, cartoon-y style that drew comparisons to the Pixaresque designs of Overwatch. Like Battleborn, it wound up being near dead-on-arrival (a Troubled Production didn't help) and was shuttered not too long after.
• LawBreakers wanted to combine old-school fast-paced FPS (such as the likes of Unreal Tournament — natch, as it's designed by one of the senior leads behind the Unreal series) with the Hero Shooter genre. Despite trying to distance itself from the competition by trying a more "realistic" look, Overwatch fans weren't impressed, and classic FPS fans stuck to their usual games, with both parties partially blaming the expensive buy-in.
• Quake Champions drew concern from classic FPS fans that Bethesda was trying to Overwatch-ify Quake, a huge no-no to a largely insular community. However, the pro Quake community's approval, as well as a successful beta test, gave the game a decently-sized fanbase.
• Paragon (2016) not only suffered from being seen as an attempt to break into the Hero Shooter genre, but it also was competing against set MOBA juggernauts (League, DOTA, et cetera), a small dev team slowly being eaten up by Fortnite and a general lack of advertising.
• Although Apex Legends is a battle royale game with an edgier sci-fi art style, it drew comparisons to Overwatch since it also has a diverse cast of quirky, larger-than-life playable heroes with tactical and ultimate abilities. What makes the rivalry more pronounced is how several professional and casual Overwatch players switched to playing Apex, making the two titles competitors for the same audience.
• Valorant also emerged being identified as a competitor to Overwatch from as early as its closed beta, as it — while more of a Tactical Shooter closer to CS:GO than Overwatch — shares a similarly cartoonish aesthetic, distinct heroes with unique abilities, and a major focus on the esports scene, the last of which was widely speculated to be a big threat due to the number of retirements of high-profile Overwatch League pros who for varying reasons began shifting to Valorant, professionally or otherwise. Naturally, the audiences of each are on very tense terms.

---