Players on a team work together to secure and defend control points on a map or escort a payload across the map in a limited amount of time. Players gain cosmetic rewards that do not affect gameplay, such as character skins and victory poses, as they play the game. The game was initially launched with casual play, with a competitive ranked mode, various 'arcade' game modes, and a player-customizable server browser subsequently included following its release. Additionally, Blizzard has added new characters, maps, and game modes post-release, all free of charge, with the only additional cost to players being optional to earn cosmetic items. Overwatch is Blizzard's fourth major franchise and came about following the 2014 cancellation of the ambitious. A portion of the Titan team came up with the concept of Overwatch, based on the success of team-based first-person shooters like and the growing popularity ofcreating a hero-based shooter that emphasized teamwork. Some elements of Overwatch borrow assets and concepts is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc the canceled Titan project. After establishing the narrative of an optimistic near-future Earth setting after a global crisis, the developers aimed to create a diverse cast of heroes that spanned genders and ethnicities as part of this setting. Significant time is spent adjusting the of the characters, making sure that new is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc would still be able to have fun while skilled players would present each other with a challenge. Overwatch was unveiled at 2014 in a fully playable state and was in a from late 2015 through early 2016. An open beta in May 2016 drew in nearly 10 million players. The release of the game was promoted with short animated videos to introduce the game's narrative and each of the characters. Upon official release, Overwatch received universal acclaim from critics, who praised the game for its accessibility, diverse appeal of its hero characters, bright cartoonish art style, and enjoyable gameplay. Overwatch is considered to be one of thereceiving numerous awards, alongside other accolades. The game has also become recognized as anwith Blizzard themselves helping to fund and produce professional leagues, such as the. A screenshot from Overwatch while in-match. The player playing Tracer and their allies are indicated in blue, while the opposing team is in red. The character's health bar is shown on the bottom left, their main skills and attacks are shown on the bottom right, and their progress towards their ultimate ability is shown in the bottom center. Overwatch features a number of different game modes, principally designed around squad-based combat with two opposing teams of six players each. Players select one of over two dozen pre-made hero characters from one of three class types: Damage heroes that deal most of the damage to attack or defend control points, Tank heroes that can absorb a large amount of damage, and Support heroes that provide healing or other buffs for their teammates. Each hero has a unique skill kit, defining their intrinsic attributes like and running speed, their primary attacks, several active and passive skills, and an ultimate ability that can only be used after it has been charged through dealing damage. Players can change their hero during the course of a match, as a goal of Overwatch 's design was to encourage dynamic team compositions that adapt to the situation. The game features game modes for casual play, competitive ranked play, and for supporting competitions including Blizzard's. These modes generally are centered around sequentially securing control of points on the map, or escorting a payload between points on the map, with one team attacking while the other defends. Other modes set aside for casual matches include solo and team deathmatch, capture-the-flag, and unique modes run during various. Regardless of winning or losing a match, players gain experience towards a player level, and on gaining a new level, receive that contain cosmetic items that they can use to customize the appearance of the hero characters but otherwise does not affect gameplay. Loot boxes can also be purchased through. Plot See also: The backstory to Overwatch is described through and other information distributed by Blizzard in promoting the game. Prior to the Omnic Crisis, humanity had been in a of is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc and technology development. The quickly formed Overwatch, an international task force to combat this threat and restore order. Two veteran soldiers were put in charge of Overwatch: Gabriel Reyes and Jack Morrison. Though Overwatch successfully quelled the robotic uprising and brought a number of talented individuals to the forefront, a rift ended up developing between Reyes and Morrison, and Morrison became the leader of Overwatch while Reyes took charge of Blackwatch, Overwatch's covert operations division. During this, an explosion destroyed Overwatch's headquarters inpurportedly killing Morrison and Reyes among others. Overwatch is set six years after the Petras Act; without Overwatch, corporations have started to take over, fighting and have broken out in parts of the globe, and there are signs of a second Omnic Crisis occurring in Russia. A former member of Overwatch, the intelligent gorilla Winston, decides to begin reforming Overwatch to protect the peace once again despite the Petras Act, with the team members recruiting old friends and gaining new allies in their fight. Development Main article: Overwatch came about in the aftermath of Blizzard's decision to cancel the in 2013, a project that had been in development for about seven years. While most others assigned to the project were transferred to other departments within Blizzard, a small team of about 40 people, led by directorwere tasked to come up with a new concept for a game in a few months. After some brainstorming, they came onto the is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc of a hero team-based shooter, building upon the success of games like and. They started with assets developed for Titan to demonstrate the proof-of-concept, and were greenlit to build out the full game, the first new that Blizzard had developed since. The intra-company experience of Titan 's cancellation served to help drive the narrative and setting. They created an optimistic vision of the near-future, some decades following the Omnic Crisis and the formation and collapse of the peacekeeping Overwatch group. This allowed them to create a diverse cast of characters, include non-human ones, and colorful is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc from around the globe. The Overwatch team continues to support the game through free updates, the introduction of new characters, maps, game modes, cosmetic items,and external media to support the game's narrative, as well as continuously tuning how the individual heroes play by monitoring meta-game statistics and user feedback. Marketing Overwatch was formally announced at the event on November 7, 2014; the game was playable during the event to all attendees, with fourteen characters available to select from. During this event Blizzard released a cinematic trailer and an extended gameplay video for the game. A month after the BlizzCon event, in December 2014, Blizzard published character introduction videos to its channel, and followed up on this May 2015 by posting weekly videos of game footage and character highlights. A closed beta period for Overwatch across all three platforms began on October 27, 2015. Following the March 2016 release announcement, Blizzard announced an open beta period from May 5 to 9 for any registered user of the client. The open beta proven popular with Blizzard reporting over 9. In the week prior to release, Blizzard arranged to have three giant-sized boxes approximately 15 feet 4. The displays were created by Alliance Studios, led bywho has collaborated with Blizzard before on past projects, and Eddie Yang. After planning the design of the sculptures in January 2016, teams across the world, includingScicon, and Egads, raced to print, finish and assemble the works in time for the game's release. Propelled by Overwatch, Blizzard had over 50% of the American advertisement share among gaming industry brands from May 16 to June 15, 2016. Overwatch was released for, and platforms on May 24, 2016, with the game servers coming online at 00:00 that day. Blizzard allowed retailers to sell physical copies of the game on May 23 to help players prepare for the servers' launch. The game will be supported by updates, including new maps and characters. All of the additional content will be free for existing players and does not require additional payment. Blizzard hoped that through this method they can alleviate the concerns of some players. Two special editions of Overwatch were released alongside the base game. The Origins Edition, available both as a downloadable and retail product, includes the base game and five additional character skins, as well as other bonus items for other Blizzard games via Battle. The Collectors Edition, only available as retail, includes the Origins Edition content as well as a statue of Soldier: 76, one of the playable characters, along with the game's soundtrack and a source book. Those that purchased either the Origins or Collectors Editions received the Baby Winston battle pet in. In honor of its first anniversary, Blizzard released a digital Game of the Year edition of Overwatch on May 23, 2017; it includes all content from the Origins Edition in addition to ten free in-game loot boxes. Blizzard has expressed interest in supporting between console systems in the future, though has no plans for Windows-supported cross-play due to the precision advantage of keyboard-mouse controls over controller-based ones. In 2018, Blizzard hired to help with development of Overwatch 's narrative. In March 2016, Blizzard announced that they would be releasing and based on Overwatch in 2016. The related media included plans for a graphic novel called Overwatch: First Strike, which would have focused on the story of several in-game characters including Soldier: 76, Torbjörn, Reaper, and Reinhardt. The novel was to be penned by writer Micky Neilson and artist Ludo Lullabi. Blizzard opted to cancel First Strike in November 2016, with Chu stating that since the announcement of the graphic novel, Overwatch 's narrative development has gone in a somewhat different direction, changing out these origin stories would work. Blizzard still plans to reveal more of the characters' backstory in time. Blizzard began releasing the series of animated shorts in March 2016; the shorts maintained the style of the game's cinematic trailer, which centered on a battle in which Tracer and fought Reaper and Widowmaker in the Overwatch Museum. A collection of these cinematic sequences played in movie theaters across the United States as part of the game's launch event. The first episode of the animated short series, Recall, was released on March 23. It centers on Winston and Reaper, and features flashbacks to Winston's childhood. The second episode, Alive, showcased a standoff between Tracer and Widowmaker, and was released on April 5. The third episode, Dragons, featuring the brothers and Genji, was released on May 16. The fourth and final episode of the series' first season, Hero, stars Soldier: 76, and was released May 22. A 100-page art book, titled The Art of Overwatch and featuring various artwork and art prototypes from the game, was published by in October 2017. Blizzard has also worked with to design Overwatch-stylized toy guns as part of their Nerf Rivals line, and to create Overwatch toys starting in October 2018. Overwatch characters and elements have been brought over to Blizzard's crossover game. The characters Tracer, Lúcio, Zarya, Genji, and D. Va are all playable heroes in Heroes of the Storm, and an arena based on the Overwatch map Hanamura has been added to the game. Blizzard plans to add Junkrat, Ana, Hanzo, and a map based on Overwatch 's Voskaya Foundry. Kaplan stated that while esports was not a design goal, they included and planned for features for the game to support the competitive community. This included the introduction of the game's competitive mode some months after the game's launch after seeing how players took towards Overwatch; Blizzard saw the ladder-approach they used as a means for skilled players to reach high ranks as to be noticed by esport team organizers. Dan Szymborski writing for stated that Overwatch was poised as the next big esport for having a sufficiently different look and playstyle from established esports games like andenough variety in maps and characters, and strong support from Blizzard to maintain the game for a long time. Bryant Francis writing for noted the speed and short match times of Overwatch make the game highly favorable for viewership, further supporting the game as an esports title. Just prior to the game's release, writer Stefan Dorresteijn contacted professional esports players and hosts for their opinions. Who is on cooldown and who has changed hero. The moment the attacking team captures the first control point they don't just have the momentum but also the last advantage for the second and final capture point. The esports organizer held the first international Overwatch competition in August 2016, called Overwatch Atlantic Showdown. The competition used four open qualifiers beginning in June, followed by regional qualifiers and then a final online qualifier. Eight teams then competed for a six-figure prize in the finals to be held at 2016 from August 20—21. In November 2016, Blizzard hosted their ownallowing users to vote for teams to represent their nation or region, with finals taking place during their event. Overwatch grew increasingly in South Korea since it was released. It topped gaming cafes in Korea in terms of player count, surpassing that of League of Legends. To support viewership of its professional competitions, Blizzard released a companion Overwatch application in November 2018 that gives viewers a means to watch matches through a spectator mode. Overwatch League Main article: At 2016, Blizzard announced their plans for is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc Overwatch League, using an organization of permanent teams in league placements similar is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc more traditional North American professional sports leagues, rather than the use of used in a series like. Blizzard sought potential team owners including ownerand ownerand by November 2017, had established 12 franchises around the world with plans to expand further in later seasons. Contracted players on these franchises are guaranteed a minimum salary, benefits, and revenue sharing. The first season was played at Blizzard Arena inbut Blizzard anticipates developing other venues around the world with teams traveling to participate in games. This isn't the dour brown-and-grey shooter you might be used to. Instead, it's bright and colorful, with a cast of characters that's eclectic and diverse. It's a world filled with lively color and energetic, playful competition, much like 's creative kid-friendly ink-shooter Splatoon. Introducing high-stakes competition with a muddled message about the importance of individual skill drags the game into confused, oftentimes negative territory. If Blizzard wants this thing to work, they're gonna have to figure out a competitive framework that's true to Overwatch 's spirit, rather than just the spirit of competition. Sales A week from its launch, Blizzard reported over seven million Overwatch players with a total accumulated playtime of 119 million hours; Blizzard reported more than 10 million players by mid-June, and has reported continued increases in the player base, with 40 million players as of May 2018. With digital sales, Overwatch was the fastest selling game during its release month. In Activision-Blizzard's quarterly earnings report for Q1 2017, the company reported that Overwatch revenues had exceeded one billion dollars, the eighth such property owned by the company to do so. In June 2016, Gametrics, a South Korean internet cafe survey website, reported that Overwatch overtook as the most popular game played across 4,000 of South Korea's at the time. Controversies While the developers were aiming to avoid of the characters, there was some criticism of the female characters of the game during its development. Following promotional images featuring the female character in March 2016, a thread on Blizzard's official forums drew attention to one of Tracer's victory poses, which was criticised by a user as out of character and oversexualized. Kaplan's response drew mixed reactions from the gaming community, with many claiming Blizzard had forgone its creative control over the game and censored its content to placate one offended user, while others praised Blizzard's willingness to listen to the community and adhere to standards for portraying a character according to their personality. Kaplan later stated that the team was already unsure of the pose and was thinking of changing it. The following week, a replacement pose was released, although it was noted to be similar to the original pose. The replacement pose was alleged to be influenced by Billy DeVorss. The pose was replaced during the game's beta period. Following the game's release, some of the alternative outfits for characters had come under criticism for using cultural stereotypes, such as a headdress option for the character of Pharah, who seemed to be primarily of Egyptian origin. Kaplan noted that they considered for all these outfits if they were appropriate, believing they were respecting the cultures of the characters they had created and would make necessary changes if they felt there were valid concerns. Kaplan commented that many players have responded positively to these outfits and feel they fit in appropriately with the idealized version of Earth. In July 2016, the President of the Universal Society of Hinduism Rajan Zed urged to remove two of Symmetra's hero cosmetic items from the game since they could be seen as inappropriate and not accurate towards the beliefs and practices of. In Hinduism, devotees put their destinies in the hands of their gods and goddesses, this is a stark contrast to how he believes they are portrayed within the game. Currently, both of Symmetra's Devi and Goddess skins are still playable within the game. In Overwatch 's Asia servers, there were problems with numerous players using cheats tied to the growing number of younger players using in South Korea that allow them to play Overwatch on an inexpensive hourly rate rather than purchasing the game. As these players do not need permanent accounts, they can use disposable Battle. Blizzard continues to block these accounts at a rate of thousands per day, but have not been able to find a more permanent solution. Subsequently, Blizzard announced that players from South Korea will be required to log into a Battle. Some players have criticized the ability to use these converters, as players with them often populate the top of the competitive ranking ladders. Though Blizzard has appealed to Sony and Microsoft to either prevent such converters, or to detect when such converters are used as to be able to segregate players into servers based on this, disabled players have spoken out against such action, as many need to use such converters to play the game on consoles lacking the ability to use a normal controller. After a year from its release, journalists observed that the player community was becoming more toxic, disrupting the enjoyment of playing the game. It was believed this came from the nature of the game that requires teamwork, and when teammates see players unwilling to switch to different heroes to balance the team or otherwise play for individual gains, this would cause the teammates to become angry and lash out at the player, become and throw the match, or other negative behavior that would spread over time, particularly in the game's competitive mode. Players are able to report malicious users with in-game tools, and Blizzard can ban players for egregious actions, but they do not attempt to segregate out bad actors from the larger pool a method used by other developers in multiplayer gamesinstead keeping an inclusive community for all non-banned players, which is believed to contribute to the growing toxicity. Kaplan said in a September 2017 update that Blizzard was very well aware of the problem, and have worked to improve their in-game player behavior reporting tools to help combat the toxicity, but because they have is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc to put greater effort into this, they are distracted from developing new features and content for the game. Kaplan urged the community to consider how they can improve individually and as a whole to help combat the situations. In November 2017, the Belgian Gaming Commission announced that it was investigating Overwatch alongside to determine whether constituted unlicensed gambling. Many Asian and European countries view as a form of gambling and have since decided to make them illegal for companies to sell directly to their consumers in their games. Accolades Overwatch won numerous awards in 2016, including being named Game of the Year at, andas well as several awards and nominations highlighting its game direction and as a leading multiplayer game. One of Blizzard's artists, Roman Kenney, drew concept art based on one player's daughter's original Overwatch character design. Blizzard altered one of the game's maps to include a tribute to an avid Chinese fan of the game who died from injuries while trying to stop a motorcycle theft on the day before the game's public release. Cosplay of various Overwatch characters at 2016 Blizzard has encouraged fans of Overwatch to make artistic content based on the game. To support this, Blizzard released the hero reference kit before release, providing official colors and costume and weapon designs for all 21 heroes present at the game's launch. Fans have used is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc, the game'sand other assets to create a large amount of content, including art, cosplay, and music videos. In is overwatch cross platform ps4 pc cases, Blizzard has reciprocated these fan creations back into the game, such as an emote for D. Va, based on the Gremlin meme. There existswith searches of Overwatch characters partaking in sexual activities spiking by 817% shortly after the release of the open beta. A large amount of such pornographic fan works are created with 's tool and make use of the game's actual models, which were ripped from the game during its closed beta and consequently spread over the internet. Blizzard made efforts to remove the works. Kaplan stated that while the studio does not want to infringe on anyone'sBlizzard is mindful that many players are teenagers or younger and would hope the community would try to keep such imagery away from them. Archived from on May 27, 2016. Game of the Year picks blog. National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to.
