Overwatch was officially announced for the Nintendo Switch during the Nintendo Direct stream. A short video about the release provides insights into the porting process. The showcased controls look really interesting and quite different.
How does Overwatch play on the Switch? An official video on the Overwatch YouTube channel shows some clips from cinematics and also gameplay of Overwatch on the Nintendo Switch.
This gameplay shows how the tilt of the Switch affects the control of the characters. The Hamster Hammond in his ball is controlled by tilting, as is Junkrat’s RIP-Tire. But aiming with Widowmaker’s sniper rifle and shooting also work through motor skills in the video.
As a result, the controls on the Switch differ significantly from those on PS4 and Xbox One with controllers or on PC with mouse and keyboard. How it feels ultimately depends on the release.
When can Overwatch be played on the Switch? After a leak about the release in advance, the release date for Overwatch on the Switch was confirmed for October 15, 2019 a few hours later.
This is how Overwatch on Switch and the controls are received
This is what fans say about the video: The announcement is perceived very positively by the community. The English video has already received over 19,000 upvotes on YouTube and the corresponding post on reddit has over 16,600 (as of August 5 at 2:20 PM).
Fans particularly celebrate the presented controls and swear they want to use them:
- “I use the tilt control!” – thegreatgonzoo
- “Oh God, Splatoon players will seriously go crazy with this tilt aim.” – Gigavoir
- “Hell yeah, tilt control with Widowmaker.” – Gimme_Karma
However, many players wish for cross-progression so they can transfer their achievements from other platforms to the Switch. However, there is no information on this yet.
Some players are also joking a bit about the announcement. With comments like: “Quick, act surprised!” they refer to the leak with the Overwatch protective case for the Switch that came beforehand.
What do you think of the Switch version and its peculiar controls? Are you looking forward to it?
In addition to the Overwatch port, there might even be a new spin-off in the works:
