Jeff Kaplan discusses the future of Overwatch in new IGN video
Overwatch’s 26th hero is “very playable and very fun internally”, according to a recent interview with game director Jeff Kaplan.
The news comes in a video published by IGN, in which the developer also discusses the origins of the game. Here’s the whole thing:
In the video, Kaplan begins by addressing the difficult origins of Overwatch, which emerged from the ashes of the doomed Titan project. In development from 2007 until it’s cancellation many years later, Titan’s PVP content ultimately spawned Overwatch, the project content that the team felt had actually been working well.
Kaplan also describes the moment the team pitched Overwatch to Activision executives:
“To the Activision executive’s credit, they were nice to us. They’ve already got Call of Duty – the biggest shooter on the planet,” he begins.
“There was a magical moment though where Bobby [Kotick] stops the presentation and says to go back two slides. It was the original character line-up: ‘I’ve never seen characters like that,’ he says. ‘People are going to fall in love with it.'”
Teasingly, Kaplan also provides the first hint that there’s a future for the Overwatch universe beyond its current incarnation as a competitive shooter.
“The team dreams of much more Overwatch that goes beyond this. How does Overwatch express itself in other ways that go beyond the 6v6 team shooter? I’m very hopeful for what we can buidl as a great unvierse that people can fall in love with.”
Expect some significant news about the future of Overatch when Blizzard’s annual BlizzCon gathering kicks off in just under two months from now.
