Dr. Mei-Ling Zhou is a character who first appeared in the 2016 video game ''
Overwatch
''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...
'', a
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...
–developed
first-person shooter
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
, and the
resulting franchise. Commonly simply referred to as Mei, she was originally conceived as a Canadian bounty hunter named "Frostbite" who encased her targets in ice, she was changed due to the developers feeling a light tone was necessary for the character, and redesigned her as a cute,
Chinese
Chinese may refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
**'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
scientist. Voiced by Yu "Elise" Zhang, Mei is stationed in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
as part of the efforts of "Overwatch", a global peace-keeping force, to monitor
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
. After being revived from
cryopreservation
Cryopreservation or cryoconservation is a process where biological material - cells, tissues, or organs - are frozen to preserve the material for an extended period of time. At low temperatures (typically or using liquid nitrogen) any cell ...
, she helps the reformed group combat a global threat, utilizing a pistol that can either generate ice beams or generate ice constructs, accompanied by her sentient drone Snowball. Since her introduction, she has appeared in various spinoff media related to the franchise, including comics and merchandise, and later in another Blizzard developed title, ''
Heroes of the Storm
''Heroes of the Storm'' is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Announced at BlizzCon 2010, it was released on June 2, 2015 for macOS and Windows. The game features various crossover ...
''.
Mei as a character has been well received since release, particularly by Chinese audiences. Her appearance as a full-figured woman has also received praise, cited as a point for female diversity in gaming. However criticism arose when the game's sequel seemingly slimmed her figure down. In 2019, due to the
Blitzchung controversy
In October 2019, United States, American video game developer Blizzard Entertainment punished Ng Wai Chung () (known as Blitzchung), a Hong Kong esports player of the online video game ''Hearthstone (video game), Hearthstone'', for voicing his ...
involving Blizzard, Mei's image was used to express support for
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
during protests occurring within the country, pushed as a "pro-democracy" symbol on social media platforms and displayed by protestors outside the
BlizzCon
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including '' Warcraft'', '' StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', ''Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and '' Overwatch''.
The first BlizzCon was h ...
2019 event.
Conception and development
Mei was first announced in October 2015 at
BlizzCon
BlizzCon is an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment to promote its major franchises including '' Warcraft'', '' StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', ''Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm,'' and '' Overwatch''.
The first BlizzCon was h ...
; along with
D.Va and
Genji, she was one of the last heroes who was introduced into ''Overwatch'' prior to its official release. The concept started from a desire to have an ice or cold user in the game's roster.
This extended as far back as the original pitch for ''Overwatch'', "Prometheus", with the proposed character "Frost", a fully masked figure with a winter coat armed with an ice axe and able to generate ice patches and walls. Though the character was excluded from the finalized planned roster,
the concept was later revisited by artist Justin Thavirat as a character codenamed "Frostbite", a
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
mountaineer bounty hunter that would that would capture her targets in ice. While the development team was excited by the idea, her design came across as too intimidating, and feeling the game had too many "serious" characters redesigned her with a lighter tone in mind.
Assistant Art Director Arnold Tsang drew several drafts modifying the design. Game director
Jeff Kaplan
Jeffrey Kaplan is an American video game designer and former vice president of Blizzard Entertainment, a position he held until he left the company in 2021. He designed elements of ''World of Warcraft'' and is the former lead director of ''Overwa ...
suggested making the character possibly Chinese, wanting to avoid nationalities stereotypically associated with chilly environments such as Canada or
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
, and Tsang took inspiration from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
's
Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival
The Harbin International Ice and Snow festival () is an annual winter festival that takes place in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, and is now the largest ice and snow festival in the world. The festival includes the popular attraction Ice and Snow ...
to flesh out this aspect.
Lead writer Michael Chu after considering her intended abilities suggested making her a "plucky, nerdy scientist kind of character" that manipulated ice to get to hard to reach locations in the field,
much to the development team's delight.
With artist Ben Zhang developing her equipment, she was originally armed with a large two handed cannon carried underhand. However, Tsang felt it and aspects of her outfit made her silhouette resemble another character too much, Zarya, while other developers felt it seemed too refined for her character. Her weapon was revised to seem "cobbled together" and hand crafted, changed to a one handed pistol which not only made her silhouette unique, but also freed her other hand for abilities and gestures. A sentient
drone
Drone or The Drones may refer to:
Science and technology Vehicle
* Drone, a type of uncrewed vehicle, a class of robot
** Unmanned aerial vehicle or aerial drone
*** Unmanned combat aerial vehicle
** Unmanned ground vehicle or ground drone
** Unma ...
, Snowball, was added to give her a fun "sidekick" to interact with, with Zhang creating several designs, including one resembling a rabbit, in an attempt to find something "endearing but not overly expressive" that wouldn't be distracting during gameplay.
Her personality was partially inspired by her voice actress, Yu "Elise" Zhang. During a recording session, after she flubbed a line she told both Chu and the sound engineer "Sorry, sorry, sorry." Chu felt this was a great line for the character, and added additional lines to portray Mei as apologetic, both sincerely and sarcastically, for her actions in-game.
Additionally the animator assigned to her, David Gibson, drew inspiration from characters such as Rapunzel and Giselle from the films ''
Tangled
''Tangled'' is a 2010 American animated musical film, musical Adventure film, adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale "Rapunzel" in th ...
'' and ''
Enchanted'' respectively, namely their "
Disney princess
''Disney Princess'', also called the ''Princess Line'', is a media franchise and toy line owned by the Walt Disney Company. Created by Disney Consumer Products chairman Andy Mooney, the franchise features a lineup of female protagonists who hav ...
vibe" but also their innocent and clumsy aspects that made one want to "spend time with
hem
A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...
according to Gibson. Additional influence came from
Yomiko Readman
, also known as "The Paper," is the protagonist in the Japanese novel series ''Read or Die'' and its manga and original video animation (OVA) spin-offs. She is also a major player (but not the protagonist) in the sequel, '' R.O.D the TV''. She als ...
of the anime ''
Read or Die
is a Japanese light novel series written by Hideyuki Kurata, published under Shueisha's '' Super Dash Bunko'' imprint. ''Read or Die'' follows Yomiko Readman, codename "The Paper", an agent for the (fictional) Special Operations Division ...
'' at Tsang's suggestion, with Gibson adding an aversion to fighting but being forced to do so to Mei's character.
Design
Standing 5 ft 3 in tall, Mei is a Chinese woman with brown hair tied into a bun with an ornate pin holding it together on the back of her head, while the front of her hair is shorter, framing her face. She wears a large white and blue parka with a pouch belt across the waist, while a journal is strapped to the parka's right upper arm. Thick blue gloves cover her hands and wrists, while her blue pants are covered by thick grey boots with spikes extending from the soles. The outfit as a whole has light blue highlights, while her shoulders and upper gloves have ornate detailing. A large tube is strapped to her back, angled to the left, while the underside connects to her pistol, Snowball rests in an compartment in the top.
She additionally wears glasses, an element Tseng added to her character "for fun" but kept after it resonated with the team and they felt it was "an adorable way to portray this brilliant scientist."
Mei is also notably more
full-figured than most other female characters in the game, something Tsang wanted to do to not only help define her silhouette but also introduce more diversity into the game's roster.
For ''Overwatch 2'', her design was changed, reducing the frills on the coat, removing the belt and overall increasing the amount of blue throughout the outfit.
Like other ''Overwatch'' characters, Mei received
skins, unlockable cosmetic items to change her in-game appearance. To this end they developed skins that referenced her cultural background or abilities, such as the
firefighter
A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...
themed "Rescue Mei" skin which was designed to not only tie into the nature of her weapon and skills but also help maintain her character's silhouette.
Meanwhile, the "Chang'e" skin as part of the in-game
Year of the Rooster celebration reimagines her with a traditional Chinese hairstyle and long flowing outfit meant to reference the Chinese
moon goddess of the same name.
Prior to the launch of the 2021 Overwatch League season, a new skin for Mei was released based on a
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world.
In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...
(MMA) outfit, named "MM-Mei". The skin gave Mei
cornrows
Cornrows (also called canerows) are a style of three-strand braids in which the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to make a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often done in simple, straight lines, as the ...
, a hairstyle common to people of African descent, but also had been used by MMA Chinese fighter
Zhang Weili. Some players criticized the skin as
cultural appropriation
Cultural appropriation is the adoption of an element or elements of one culture or cultural identity, identity by members of another culture or identity in a manner perceived as inappropriate or unacknowledged. Such a controversy typically ari ...
, and further expressed their frustration alongside it that at that point the game had yet to feature a female playable character of African-descent.
Appearances
Dr. Mei-Ling "Mei" Zhou is a Chinese woman first appearing in the 2016
first-person shooter
A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...
''Overwatch'', and later its sequel.
Originating from
Xi'an
Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, Mei is part of the global peace-keeping force "Overwatch", and monitored climate change in their base in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...
. However, after a storm damaged the facility, Mei and the other scientists realize they lack sufficient resources to wait for a rescue and decide to enter
cryostasis. Mei is the only survivor among them after help arrives a decade later, and with Overwatch having disbanded during her absence, she elects to carry on their work on her while accompanied by her sentient drone, Snowball.
Later after Overwatch reforms, she returns to help them fight a new global threat called "Null Sector".
In 2016, a seasonal event was added to the games with "Mei's Snowball Offensive", in which all players play as Mei, and their weapons are replaced with single-shot snowball throwers that require randomly spawning piles of snow to reload.
In related media to the franchise, Mei appears in the
''Overwatch'' animated shorts ''Rise and Shine'' in 2017, an expanded retelling of her origin story, and ''Zero Hour'' in 2019, which shows her helping to fight against "Null Sector" and bringing down their massive 'Titan' robot.
In December 2017, Mei appeared alongside the character
Winston in the comic ''Yeti Hunt'', which served as a tie-in for a winter-themed
seasonal event in the game. Outside of ''Overwatch'', Mei was added to Blizzard's
multiplayer online battle arena
Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of Gamer, players compete on a structured battlefield, each controlling a single Player character, character with distinctive abilit ...
game ''
Heroes of the Storm
''Heroes of the Storm'' is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Announced at BlizzCon 2010, it was released on June 2, 2015 for macOS and Windows. The game features various crossover ...
'' in June 2020.
Gameplay
In ''Overwatch'', Mei is classified as a Damage-class character, designed to provide a more offensive role in team compositions.
She was originally classified as a Defense-class character before it and the Offense-class were combined into one classification.
Her primary weapon is an "Endothermic Blaster", a one handed short pistol that can either fire a short-range ice beam that will damage and slow the movement speed of enemies it hits, or can fire a long-range icicle projectile that does increased damage.
Of note, in the original game the ice beam could also freeze enemies in place, however this effect was removed with the release of ''Overwatch 2''. In ''Overwatch 2'', Mei temporarily reduces the amount of healing an enemy receives when she damages them, due to a new passive ability given to all Damage-class characters.
Mei also has several abilities that require activation, though the first two have a "cooldown" period after use and are unable to be used again during that duration. The first, "Cryo Freeze", encases her in ice for a short duration, preventing her from moving or activating abilities while active but also healing her and preventing incoming damage. "Ice Wall" on the other hand will create a wide block of ice that not only impedes movement but blocks attacks during its duration or until it is destroyed. Lastly, her 'ultimate' ability, called "Blizzard", requires to be charged before use. The ability charges slowly during the course of gameplay, and can be charged faster through damage dealt to the enemy team. Once activated, it will cause Snowball to generate an
area of effect
Since the origin of video games in the early 1970s, the video game industry, the gamer, players, and video game culture, surrounding culture have spawned a wide range of technical and slang terms.
0–9
...
attack that will damage enemies within the affected area while active, slowing them and freezing any that remain in the area too long, and lasts until its duration expires or the drone is sufficiently damaged.
For ''Heroes of the Storm'', the developers wanted to reimagine her as a "tank" style character, able to withstand hits and draw enemy fire. To this end while they kept many of her abilities the same several others were tweaked.
Two additional abilities were also added: "Icing", in which she generates ice on the ground to slide forward, and an optional Snowball 'ultimate' that generates a large snowball that rolls forward, capturing and pulling enemies hit with it to its final destination while damaging them.
Promotion and reception

Mei was featured at BlizzCon 2015's "What's New" panel,
and has been featured on additional material including a cosplay guide and promotional images themed around holidays,
as well as
Funko Pop
Funko Inc. is an American company that manufactures licensed and limited pop culture collectibles, known for its licensed vinyl figurines and bobbleheads. In addition, the company produces licensed plush, action figures, apparel, accessories a ...
and
Nendoroid
The series is a brand of plastic figures created by the Japanese Good Smile Company since 2006. They typically depict characters from anime, manga or video games and are designed with a large head and smaller body to give them a cute appearan ...
figures in 2017. A toy of Snowball was released in 2018, utilizing a magnetic field to make it levitate a short distance while its eyes would change expression based on interaction. In 2022,
Lego
Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...
planned to release a set featuring Mei based on the events of the ''Zero Hour'' short, however the set was cancelled due to workplace allegations raised against Blizzard by former employees.
Mei was well received since her introduction by Chinese players in particular, who considered her background, combined with her pet phrase "Our world is worth fighting for", portrayed a positive image of a woman determined to protect the world.
In his book ''Open World Empire'',
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
professor Christopher B. Patterson cited Mei as an example of how characters in the game were both "stereotypical and homage", with her scientific background and behavior often considered a stereotype of Asian cultures despite her gender undermining the image of China's primarily male scientific field. He further added that through gameplay, these stereotypes instead became camp due to her "bubbly voice and cheery lines" acting as a form of psychological warfare in the eyes of players who saw her instead as "a psychopath who takes pleasure in binding and slowly torturing her victims." He noted that through the character he grew to appreciate Chinese culture more, and saw characters like Mei as an example of a character players were not supposed to identify as, but with, and explore their affinities and aspirations.
While Mei has been praised for having a non-uniform body type compared to other female characters in the game, this drew some criticism from Chinese players who questioned why she was not as slim as other female characters in the game.
On the other hand, some such as Matthew Rodriguez of ''
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History ...
'' criticized the handling of this aspect as the games have progressed, through some of Mei's in-game dialogue but also particularly in regards ''Overwatch 2'' where she seems to have been made visibly slimmer. TheGamer's editor-in-chief Stacey Henley elaborated further on the latter complaint, noting that while this was also a factor of several alternate skins in the original ''Overwatch'', "in a game full of slim and slender feminine ideals, Mei was doing it for the big girls." However, with the sequel, her coat and body had been made visibly slimmer while her face had become more defined with sharper features in Henley's eyes, who further stated it ruined her aesthetic appeal. She closed with "We have lots of slim, beautiful women in ''Overwatch'' to play as. We have no one else like Mei."
On October 6, 2019, Blizzard suspended professional ''
Hearthstone
''Hearthstone'' is a 2014 Online game, online digital collectible card game, digital collectible card video game produced by Blizzard Entertainment, released under the free-to-play model. Originally subtitled ''Heroes of Warcraft'', ''Hearthsto ...
'' player Chung "Blitzchung" Ng Wai for making statements in support of the
ongoing protests in Hong Kong during a ''Grandmasters'' livestream interview, with Blizzard asserting that Blitzchung had violated rules related to their behavior and respecting Blizzard's image.
Blizzard's actions were criticized globally, and as part of the reactions, Hong Kong protesters and others began to illustrate Mei as a supporter of the protests as a show of solidarity against Blizzard's decision. A
hashtag
A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...
"#Meisupportshongkong" trended on social media websites such as
Reddit
Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...
and
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
, while protesters appeared outside of BlizzCon in 2019, giving out shirts showcasing Mei holding the Hong Kong flag.
Fan artists on said social media also contributed, drawing depictions of the character in opposition of the Chinese government and its policies in part to portray the character as a "pro-democracy" icon but also an attempt by some to goad China into banning ''Overwatch''.
References
External links
*
Official design reference guideby Blizzard Entertainment.
{{Heroes of the Storm
2019–2020 Hong Kong protests
Antarctica in fiction
Cryonically preserved characters in video games
Female characters in video games
Fictional characters from Shaanxi
Fictional superhuman healers
Fictional Chinese people in video games
Fictional environmentalists
Fictional female doctors
Fictional gunfighters
Fictional female scientists
Fictional inventors in video games
Fictional scientists in video games
Fictional sole survivors
Overwatch characters
Video game characters introduced in 2016
Video game characters with ice or cold abilities