Many fans are celebrating the new Overwatch map Busan. However, a well-known fan created Busan earlier – did Blizzard shamelessly copy it?
A fan created Busan before Blizzard: The Overwatch fan, YouTuber, and map designer Joshua Llorente showcased his own version of the Overwatch map Busan, announced in August, already back in June using Unreal Engine 4.
Other fans and Overwatch players are now wondering if he had anything to do with the design of the official map, or if Blizzard could simply have stolen it.
Commotion over the new map Busan
Busan is a city in Korea. The new Overwatch map takes place in a futuristic South Korea, a country that Llorente has expressed great interest in (via Kotaku).
Who is Joshua Llorente? The Filipino Joshua “Shua” Llorente has previously made headlines. Back in August 2017 Llorente showcased the map “Favela”. Shortly after, a second map of his, “Cairo”, followed.
Llorente built the maps from scratch. He took 2 months for Cairo back then. Overwatch head Jeff Kaplan even took notice of his work, rewarding him with an “Amazing work! We’ll be in touch”.
Did Blizzard copy Busan? What many fans of Llorente’s work and Overwatch are keen to find out now is whether Llorente was involved in the official Busan map, or if Blizzard copied it.
Llorente himself stated that Blizzard hadn’t reached out to him. He wrote to Kotaku in an email: “I don’t believe Blizzard was inspired by my map, as I am the one inspired by their environments, and I am the one using their maps as a guide for creating my own maps.”
An official response from Blizzard on this matter is still pending.
For comparison: The Busan map by Joshua Llorente.
And the Busan map from Overwatch.
Llorente is excited about Busan: Although the maps are very similar, Llorente is not disappointed that his work was not taken over by Blizzard. He is primarily happy that a Busan map exists.
“I really like the Overwatch Busan map, as I love Korean culture. I think their [Blizzard’s] environment team captured the feel and look of a traditional and futuristic Busan well.” said Llorente.
He also has no visual complaints about the design of the map. Llorente added: “Visually, the Busan map is already perfect, and I don’t think any changes are necessary.”
The Overwatch map Busan was announced at Gamescom 2018 and is now playable on the PTR.
