The upcoming team shooter Overwatch is expected to become Blizzard’s new franchise and a new universe. If the players enjoy it, there could be more games in this universe in the future.
The US magazine Polygon had the opportunity for an interview with Jeff Kaplan, the Game Director of Overwatch. Blizzard has set ambitious goals for the new IP. It aims to be more than just a game, but perhaps even a new universe.
Big Universe, Small Game?
Overwatch is an example of Blizzard’s new approach to choose a “slimmer, focused design for a game”. While World of Warcraft is ten games in one, and a game like Titan, which aimed in that direction, never came together, Overwatch now draws inspiration from “Hearthstone”. That too is a rather “small game”, but it works.
In contrast to Hearthstone, however, a “new” universe is being created for Overwatch, where more stories could also be envisioned. The aim is to create a universe filled with sorted heroes who are now organizing in the underground and secretly pursuing their calling. This takes place in a highly technological version of our own possible future.
But Overwatch as its own universe like Diablo, Warcraft, or Starcraft is still a topic for the future: “We can’t say now that we want to entertain the franchise for 30 years and make 30 games in it, but we want to be in a position to do so if the game is successful.”
Overwatch has eSports potential, but still some open questions
At the moment, Blizzard is discovering the eSports potential of the title and is surprised: At first, the community was afraid it was too simple because it is supposed to be so accessible. Then they let some streamers and pros play it, and in the end, the high skill cap defended itself, according to Kaplan.
They have not yet agreed on the number of potential heroes; unlike a MOBA, this is usually fixed at some point in a team shooter. They started with 12, two more have already been introduced and now they believe there is still enough space for more. They are also still undecided internally about the payment model.
Here are the two new heroes:
In this article, we introduced Overwatch and its gameplay. The beta for Overwatch begins this fall.
