Blizzcon’s big announcement for the weekend is the first new IP from the behemoth publisher to have nothing at all to do with Starcrafts, Diablos, Warcrafts or Worlds of. Overwatch is a multiplayer online first person shooter that, from the gameplay trailer seems to try and mix up the formula of MMOFPS a little bit by offering a lot more in terms of mobility and player abilities.
As a company Blizzard has a long history of tackling otherwise unpopular and/or cornered genres and reinventing them. StarCraft and Warcraft 3 proved very popular RTS games, while World of Warcraft is credited for changing the face of MMORPGs as we know them. Nowadays Blizzard’s attempts at the market seem a bit… Uninspired, such as the MOBA Heroes of the Storm, which causes eyes to roll as a mere attempt to get at them League of Legends and DOTA moneys. Though online card game Hearthstone seems to be getting a little bit of love.
So what will Overwatch be? Inspiring or a mere cash grab? We’ll see as time goes on, though we shouldn’t have to wait long as beta signups are available on Battle.net now, with a launch window that Blizzard says is “sooner than you think.”
You can check out the Overwatch Gameplay trailer below, and their rather cute and well animated cinematic:
