Blizzard's Overwatch is a massive online multiplayer game that has transcended into pop culture status outside of the game's core audience. With its ensemble roster of characters representing countries all over the world, Overwatch has achieved global recognition even among players who don't play video games.
Another reasoning behind Overwatch's popularity is how inclusive the characters are, be it with their sexuality or with the motivation behind their actions within the game. It is due to Overwatch's popularity both among gamers and outside of video games that makes it an unexpected reference point in places one wouldn't expect to see. For one Redditor, that reference is within an ACT book.
Redditor Marshal1313 recently posted an image of a question within his ACT book, asking the reader to answer a word-based math problem. The question asks if Zarya, who is creating particle beam cannons in her laboratory, has 11 liters of hydrogen gas, 20 neodymium magnets, and 10 glass photon emitters, how many particle beam cannons can she make if each one requires 2, 3, and 2 respectively. While it is safe to assume that Zarya, a common enough name, was a mere coincidence, the reference to her particle beam cannons, however, was not.
While other Redditors in the comments chimed in their answers and how easy the question was for an ACT prep book (it's 5 for those who wanted to know the answer), others made jokes about the absurdity of the question itself. Zarya's "particle beam cannon" is the primary weapon that she uses within Overwatch that is massive, requiring the Russian weightlifter to hold it with both hands. Many had wondered why she would need five cannons, with others joking that the real answer is her wondering where her teammates are.
Due to the popularity of Overwatch, it has been referenced in other games as well, some subtle and others more profound. An example of a game referencing Overwatch is with Apex Legends. Pathfinder, one of the selectable characters in Apex, has a pose where a bird swoops down and attacks the hapless robot. Bastion, who is also a robot, has several taunts and win pose animations involving his companion bird, Ganymede, who is much more docile in nature.
When games are referred to in other games or media, it's usually done as a homage or as fans of the series that the developers happen to reference. Such is the case in Outriders, as there is an entire Dragon Age Easter egg referencing the templars, including two of the most important ones in the Dragon Age story. References made outside of the media, however, are either hit or miss, as is the case with the peculiar choice of a math quest in an ACT book.
Overwatch is now available for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.