One, if not the, finest elements of Overwatch has at all times been its animated shorts, whether or not that be for a hero launch and even the uncommon story replace. However followers have by no means been in a position to get pleasure from greater than a fraction of its potential, and now we all know why.
Throughout an AMA with Jason Schreier within the run-up to his upcoming e book Play Good: The Rise, Fall, and Way forward for Blizzard Leisure, one curious participant requested the query many people have been questioning about for a very long time now: “Any insights into why Blizzard hasn’t branched out into Motion pictures/TV/animation?”
“The e book reveals that that they had collection in growth with Netflix for Warcraft, Overwatch, and Diablo,” Schreier says in reply. “However uh… ‘Blizzard sues Netflix for poaching Spencer Neumann’ (Blizzard’s then CFO).”
Neumann was apparently in the midst of a fixed-term settlement with Activision Blizzard when Netflix courted him in 2018. Activision Blizzard ended up terminating his contract “for violating his authorized obligations to the corporate,” Activision advised buyers—he had a “no store” clause, which on this case prohibits an individual from soliciting job proposals from different corporations.
There’s a lot to Overwatch 2’s story that may very well be explored, however it’s all simply left in limbo. Overwatch is sort of like an anti-story at this level. The plot cannot progress—in any other case, we might haven’t any recreation as a result of all of it depends on heroes coming again collectively to face Talon and Null Sector. It took eight years for the heroes to really reply to Winston’s name to arms, which he made originally of Overwatch in 2016. Nobody’s additionally allowed to die or win—think about Ana getting locked from play as a result of she died from previous age.
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The one new story shreds we ever obtained had been when a brand new hero joined the roster, which might clarify extra concerning the hero’s backstory. Doomfist’s animated brief continues to be one in all my all-time favourites regardless of solely being two minutes lengthy. It showcases the whole lot that will make an Overwatch 2 animated collection improbable. The world-building is already there, and you have a roster of thrilling and expert characters who’re all able to some fairly spectacular fights. However based on Schreier, it appears to be like like that is nonetheless only a pipe dream, at the least in the intervening time, and gamers are understandably upset.
“WE LOST SO UNBELIEVABLY HARD,” a participant says in response to the information, which was emblematic of the broader response. Most different gamers agreed that this was a large fumble on Blizzard’s half, particularly as animated shorts might present an avenue for Blizzard to broaden Overwatch 2’s story with out making any everlasting adjustments to the sport.
When Overwatch 2 was launched, most gamers, myself included, had been upset over the realisation that we would not be getting the PvE that had been promised. Then, eight months in the past, amid mass layoffs, Overwatch’s Lead Narrative Director Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie introduced that his time on the staff was over, with the remainder of the narrative staff additionally getting hit fairly exhausting by layoffs. So Schreier’s information is simply one other nail within the coffin for what Overwatch 2’s narrative panorama might have been. And it additionally looks like a tragic indication that Blizzard might not worth the very factor that sucked so many gamers into Overwatch within the first place: the sensible story.
