Blizzard tentatively aims its nerf gun at Widowmaker

In the depths of Blizzard Entertainment, the first round of Overwatch balancing is being debated. McCree is getting a sure-fire nerf—Fan The Hammer is being debuffed to be less of a tank-killer. D'Va will be buffed in ways we're not yet sure of. Now it transpires that sniper extraordinaire Widowmaker could be reined in, pending further talks.

"Widowmaker is on our radar," game director Jeff Kaplan writes. "We are discussing her. We have some internal experiments going to see if we can keep her viable while lowering the frustration threshold a little bit. Right now, this is just exploration. If something more comes of it, we'll let you know."

Widowmaker's skill ceiling is certainly among the highest of Overwatch's cast. I myself play at the potato level, so countering Widowmaker is more often than not a case of shimmying to one side, but there's concern among the wider population about her high body-shot damage and full-auto SMG.

The PC Gaming Show returns to E3 on Monday June 13, featuring game announcements, updates to existing favourites, and conversation with top developers. You can find out what to expect here, and also book free tickets to attend in person at pcgamingshow.com. The PC Gaming Show will be broadcast live through twitch.tv/pcgamer from 11:30 am PT/2:30 pm ET/6:30 pm GMT, but be sure to tune in beforehand to check out The Steam Speedrun, in which one lucky winner will buy as many games as they can in three minutes.

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