Currently, things are pretty quiet regarding Overwatch, perhaps even a bit boring. What could bring new momentum? Our author Benedict thinks: a movie.
Is Overwatch in a quiet phase? The hero shooter Overwatch feels, at the moment, as if it has lost some momentum:
Is this just the necessary calm after a demanding eSports event?
Or is the game on its way to retirement?
How has the trend for Overwatch developed?
Trend shows decline: The worldwide search interest on Google for Overwatch seems to confirm this declining trend:
In May 2016, the launch – here the interest is of course the highest (100%)
For about a year, until May 2017, the values oscillate between 25% and 40% – that is very strong. We wrote in June 2017 about the “Duracell bunny” Overwatch, which never got tired.
This is why there is so little going on in Overwatch: In July, the first season of the Overwatch League ended, marking the largest eSports event in Overwatch so far. Blizzard apparently invested many resources into the event.
The league is on break – is Overwatch too? After the final matches, the Overwatch League is now in the “off-season”. Here teams can train or restructure themselves. New teams are also joining the league.
Since the end of the Overwatch League, however, everything around the game feels quite bland. Not much is happening, except for what Blizzard sporadically adds to the game:
and the 12th season of ranked play has recently been released.
Perhaps Wrecking Ball came a bit too early. The excitement around a new hero would certainly have jolted Overwatch and shown that the game is still alive.
The World Championship is starting to fade: Right after the league, the first matches for the Overwatch World Cup have begun, the World Championship of Overwatch. Here, country teams from around the world compete against each other.
Especially in Germany, however, this has gone unnoticed. There is no German cast and also little information about the World Cup, even though the finals will already take place at Blizzcon in November.
The Overwatch League was a major topic. The World Cup less.
Is Overwatch now in retirement phase at Humble-Bundle?
Overwatch for a good ten bucks: In addition, Overwatch will already be the main game in the next monthly Humble Bundle. For $12, anyone can purchase the bundle and play Overwatch.
The Humble Bundle often features indie games or games that are meant to find a market again after a long time. For little money, there are good but often just “old” titles here, even if there have been newer games to grab lately.
In fact, Overwatch, with its 2 years, is not yet old enough to have to be “humble” (meaning modest). Although the Humble Bundle donates the profits to good causes, this step feels a bit like the first step into retirement.
What does Overwatch need right now?
More excitement: Since the release of Overwatch, Blizzard has repeatedly generated excitement in the community. With AR games like around the heroine Sombra, the community was kept busy for several weeks.
Even “Papa Jeff”, Jeff Kaplan, made sure that Overwatch always stayed in mind with his public appearances. He himself has become a meme – top-notch publicity.
Since the Overwatch League, such actions have been lacking. The focus seems to have been solely on eSports the whole time.
Jeff Kaplan from the Overwatch team
More story: Overwatch has an extensive story that is hardly told in the game and outside of it. The creation of Overwatch, the crises, and the events that led to the current state would make wonderful stories.
The characters are all more than just arsenals with different weapons that one can choose from in the game. They have depth and profile, from which more could be drawn.
A movie: From the stories that are told in the comics and the cinematics alone, a whole movie could already be made. With the story of Overwatch itself, that would create a large, coherent work – maybe even a series.
More comics, a proper movie or a series or other media would provide a good basis in Overwatch. And they would certainly be successful.
The community constantly wishes for more stories, series, or movies. They just need to come.
Is a shift towards “more story” already becoming apparent?
More lore could come: There are indeed signs that Blizzard wants to do a bit more for the story of Overwatch in the near future. Michael Chu, the lead story writer, wrote in the forums that gameplay changes sometimes occur in the lore.
Whenever the opportunity arises and fits, such changes would also be incorporated into stories. Something like the relationship between Bastion and Torbjörn in a comic is a good example of what Chu could implement in the future.
The recently released cinematic of D.Va, which tells her story, gives many fans hope for more. Now, during the league break and around Blizzcon would be the right time for teasers and new content to wake Overwatch up.
Overwatch as a proper brand: Overwatch could also slowly evolve from a pure game into a brand, similar to how Blizzard’s World of Warcraft has managed. There are already signs of this:
New games could then develop around Overwatch, comparable to Hearthstone for Warcraft, or movies, series, books, and comics could emerge. The signs for that are good. We might learn something at Blizzcon.
Overwatch 2 is a hero shooter by Blizzard and the evolution of the first Overwatch. Now in a free-to-play variant and with some modifications to the original ga...
