Update: The Overwatch 2017 Summer Games is now live, and the depicted Mercy skin (named "Winged Victory") has been confirmed as authentic. Sombra's wetsuit-themed "Tulum" skin has also been revealed alongside five other new skins and the rest of the cosmetic content as shown in our rundown of the event's launch.
An Overwatch Summer Games Mercy skin may have been leaked according to a thread on the /r/Overwatch subreddit created by /u/bata12. Additionally, Game Director Jeff Kaplan has teased that Sombra will be getting a skin for the event in a post on the game's official forums.
The image shows a Mercy skin centered around a Greek mythology theme. Redditors have speculated that it is the Greek Goddess Nike, a portrayal that has a number of thematic similarities to Mercy herself. Nike would sometimes be portrayed carrying a staff of Hermes, and she sometimes would hover over the victor of a competition with her wings outstretched. The purported leak was supposedly sourced from Chinese social media; it must be stressed that we have been unable to authenticate this image as a genuine leak. A higher-quality version of the image was uploaded to Imgur:
Although the leak may look convincing at first glance, a number of issues have been raised. Redditor /u/Reddichu9001 (who states an ability to read Chinese) states in a comment that the dates are off, although he concedes that it could just be a matter of time zones. Additionally, the text on the left is reported to say "New Hero: Doomfist, Now Available" which would seem a bit odd considering that the latest addition to the Overwatch roster has been out for some time. However, others have replied that Doomfist is still being hyped to some degree in media and so the Doomfist statement is not entirely out of place.
Other Redditors have raised concerns about the overall appearance and quality of the skin such as in this comment chain started by /u/Yggi_the_tree. The Redditors state that Mercy's bust appears larger than as it is portrayed in other skins and her face seems rounder, and as such, they believe it is more likely to be a fake image. However, released skins do have a degree of variation in them; Mercy's portrayed bust size and body shape is inconsistent across skins already released in the game:
Concerns were also raised about the rounder shape of her face, although a careful inspection shows that it could simply be a gold-tinged headpiece similar to the one equipped on her Classic skin (to the left in the image above). As we have been unable to track down the original source and Blizzard has yet to utter a peep about this leak, we can't be certain whether or not it is a genuine skin that will release with today's launch of the 2017 Summer Games.
As for the new Sombra skin, Blizzard Entertainment's own Jeff Kaplan responded to a thread where Overwatch player (and Sombra main) Ryzo was passionately lamenting the fact that the Mexican hacker had not received any event skins save for an Epic in the 2016 Winter Wonderland event. Mr. Kaplan quoted a voice line from the character and hinted that there will be something in the hero gallery for Ryzo to look forward to when the 2017 Summer Games officially launches.
If the leaked Overwatch Summer Games Mercy skin is indeed genuine, what do you think of it? What do you hope a Summer Games Sombra skin would look like? Are there any skins from last year that you're aiming to get your hands on now that the event is returning? Let us know in the comments below!