Overwatch’s second If The Crisis Had Never Happened skin design contest, overseen by the game's development team, is messier than an overtime payload right now. Within two days of the results being announced, three of the winning entries have been embroiled in accusations of AI use, plagiarism, and recycling previously published work.

As reported by Taiwanese news outlet 4Gamers, the winners were announced on October 16, but it didn't take long for the first controversy to hit. Third-place winner Animal Maid Café was disqualified following allegations of AI use, with the award to be passed on to the next-ranked submission.

"We have taken note of the discussions surrounding the Animal Maid Café series, which was announced as a winning entry in this skin contest," the official statement reads, as translated by DeepL. "After verification and careful evaluation, we have determined that the creation method used for this entry does not comply with the guidelines set forth for this contest. As a result, we have decided to revoke this entry's award."

Second place wasn't spared the drama, either. Colombian artist Karulox alleged on X that the prize-winning Funeral of Love D.Va skin (which lacked a mech) had copied their 2015 design. The accusation quickly gained traction among Chinese players, many of whom reported the submission to the organizers.

Then there's the Ana: Silver Gift skin, another third-place winner. Players pointed out that the design had previously been created for a collaboration with a fan-run café in May. The creator assured that they'd refined the original before submitting it, but the competition rules state that entries must be original works created specifically for the contest.

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