Games-turned-animated shows is a fancy new trend for mainstream publishers and, somehow, one that actually seems to work quite well and ends up giving us tremendously high-quality television for once. We’ve seen it happen with Riot and Arcane, Dota 2 also had its own solid series, and, of course, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is one of the coolest pieces of animated TV ever made.
But one popular IP never got made into a show of any kind, even though it’s almost a perfect template for exactly that medium—Overwatch. Fans have been asking for a proper animated Overwatch show for as long as the game has existed, with requests ramping up following the incredible success of the mentioned Arcane.
It proved serious, grounded tales told in otherwise larger-than-life universes can work and be amazing, and Overwatch itself, especially some of its characters, would undoubtedly reaffirm this notion.
However, it never materialized, but Walter Kong, Overwatch‘s general manager and Blizzard’s head of live games and mobile development, said he wouldn’t rule anything out. Speaking with IGN, he said he is well aware of fan sentiments surrounding a potential animated Overwatch show, with fans asking for it every time the company makes a narrative short or trailer.
“Every time we release assets, whether it’s a hero trailer or an event piece, there are all of these comments about, ‘Hey, we would love an Overwatch animated series. Blizzard, what the hell? When’s that happening?’” he said.
“So we certainly hear that, and I think that it is not a huge stretch to believe that there would be a lot of demand for that type of content. So certainly, no, I won’t rule out that sometime in the future there could be other storytelling experiences in the Overwatch universe,” Kong explained.
Further in the conversation, Kong said Blizzard only realized how many resources it would need to meet every ambition it set for Overwatch, with the story in particular sometimes proving too challenging or demanding to pull off. “What we weren’t prepared for was being able to support so many ambitions,” Kong said, though the new, seasonal approach to storytelling now seems more manageable for the company.
There is a strong emotional aspect to Overwatch, as Kong explains, with characters and their backgrounds strongly resonating with the players. When shorts, hero trailers, and other narratives are mixed in, that only serves to amplify player sentiments, and it’s only natural for them to then expect those stories to be expanded upon.
No matter how solid its core PvP is, Overwatch has long been defined by its character roster, which sets it apart from so many games in the genre that tried and failed to cash in on the trend. Highguard is a recent example, and Marathon isn’t so far off. Neither has a captivating roster to speak of, and I, for the life of me, cannot understand how character designs aren’t a priority in a character-based video game.
Still, OW is still as popular as ever, and as Blizzard stabilizes its player base and narrative structures, I don’t think it’s far-fetched to expect a show or something similar in the next couple of years. Blizzard did kind of fail spectacularly when it last tried to enter cinemas, so that could still be dominating discussions, but I think we’re long past that.
