Overwatch 2's Blue Fox Theory Explained

The second beta phase for "Overwatch 2" is officially in the books. Up until this point, hype for the follow-up to Blizzard Entertainment's highly popular hero shooter has been somewhat of a mixed bag. Despite reports that the developer wishes to fix some of gamers' biggest concerns where its predecessor was lacking, Twitch viewership of the "Overwatch 2" beta fell off the map after an initial boom the first go-around. In its second phase, it was even worse, as a Legendary skin for Brigitte wasn't enough to keep the hype train rolling. However, despite the pre-release hiccups, it seems that one area where "Overwatch 2" most definitely will definitely deliver is in its addition of new characters, one of which possibly being the long awaited Blue Fox, which has become a popular unseen figure in "Overwatch" lore.

While the "Overwatch" series already has an iconic collection of characters, Blizzard Entertainment has promised new heroes for "Overwatch 2," some of which have long been referenced within the series' lore. "Overwatch 2" will mark the inclusion of the Junker Queen, the iron-fist leader of Junkertown, after years of speculation. And now, according to a theory making the rounds across the internet, it seems that Blizzard might also be including another mythical character that has long been on the horizon: the Blue Fox.

At the end of the second phase of the "Overwatch 2" beta, players were given a cryptic message that reads "V2hhdCBkb2VzIHRoZSBmb3ggc2F5Pw==." At first glance, the message looks like a random jumble of characters made up of letters and numbers, but according to an "Overwatch" fan on Twitter, it's actually a hidden message that teases things to come. On Twitter, user @Hayzelet discovered that the message wasn't a mistake, nor was the sequence of characters random. Instead, it was a hidden message that was written in a Base64 format which, when translated, says "What does the fox say?"

Outside of being a reference to Ylvis' 2013 hit "The Fox," Hayzlelet pointed out that this is proof that the Kanezaka Fox (or Blue Fox) will be coming once the third beta phase of "Overwatch 2" begins. First mentioned back in January of 2021 in a lore-filled blog post, the Kanezaka Fox is said to be a spirit that grants people luck and strength. A woman named Asa who has been imprisoned by the villainous Hashimoto clan for unpaid tributes says that she will request the spirit watches over her daughter due to her needing to grow up in such a terrible environment (per Dot Esports). As its name implies, it's origins are based in Kanezaka, one of the game's maps.

The Kanezaka Fox has long been anticipated by the "Overwatch" fandom to be included as a Support character. If Hayzelet's theory is correct, their wait will soon be over.