'Overwatch' director Jeff Kaplan discusses amazing character that could have been

By Brad Jones April 5, 2017

1158836 autosave v1 2 overwatch gall — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Overwatch is one of the most popular multiplayer games around right now, and a big part of its success is its diverse cast of memorable characters. However, not every combatant conceived for the shooter made it into the finished product, and now director Jeff Kaplan has revealed one hero that didn’t make the cut.

During the early days of the game’s development, talking gorilla Winston and grizzled serviceman Soldier 76 were apparently treated as the two “bookends” among its range of of heroes. That being said, the team did test out some concepts that were much more unusual.

“There was this one hero that was a huge internal debate on the team because we just loved it so much but it didn’t make it,” said Kaplan, speaking to Gamespot. “It was this jetpack and it had this cat that laid in it, like a cat does. Then every once in a while it would paw at the controls. It was a cat in a jetpack.”

The decision to not include the character in the game is said to be an important moment in defining what Overwatch was going to be. Ultimately, it seems that the idea of a cat operating a jetpack was just a little too silly for the tone Blizzard was trying to achieve.

“I just can’t imagine it from first-person, seeing those little cat paws,” mused Kaplan. Unfortunately, it seems that the cat hero isn’t set to make its debut in Overwatch any time soon — but the director does know who the next character added to the game’s playable roster will be, according to a report from the IBTimes.

“The next hero is very far along in development, so we’re at the point where we’re doing art for that hero, we’re doing a lot of aggressive play-testing,” said Kaplan. There’s currently no word on the identity of this new character; Doomfist has been discussed plenty by the community and actor Terry Crews, but it’s just as likely Blizzard will drop someone completely unexpected.

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Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

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Overwatch 2 has cross-progression, but you’ll need to merge accounts first

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Blizzard announced that Overwatch 2 will launch with cross-progression across all platforms. The publisher released an explainer on Overwatch's official website on Tuesday, telling players everything they need to know about cross-progression and merging their accounts before the sequel launches on October 4.

All Overwatch 2 players will need a Battle.net account to play the game, regardless of their platform. Starting on August 16, Blizzard will let players choose the console accounts they want to merge into their Battle.net account. By doing this, players can carry all the items and progression they gained in the first game over to the sequel, regardless of the platforms they're playing on.

Gaming

Overwatch 2 is going free-to-play. Here’s why

Wrecking ball and his ball mech.

Overwatch 2 is going free-to-play this October. The upcoming competitive shooter from an embattled Activision Blizzard was expected to launch in 2023, but we learned that it was coming a bit earlier than expected and would be free during the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12. Still, this is a shocking shift for one of Blizzard's biggest franchises and one that has a lot of implications for the pace of updates and new content. Ahead of a livestream that gives more details about the free-to-play shift, Digital Trends spoke to some members of the development team, including Game Director Aaron Keller and Overwatch VP and Commerical Lead Jon Spector, to learn why exactly the Overwatch 2 team decided to embrace free-to-play.
Overwatch 2: Reveal Event | June 16
The best option
At launch on October 4, Overwatch 2 players can expect three new heroes (including a support character teased in the release date trailer), six new maps, over 30 new skins (including a mythic skin for Genji), the Push game mode, and the game's first battle pass. Barring any issues that cause the team to reschedule, the second season will begin on December 6 and introduce another new tank, a new map, and a battle pass with over 30 new skins. More heroes, maps, modes, and the PvE story campaign will start to roll out throughout 2023.
Blizzard plans to make seasons last nine weeks, with three or four new heroes added yearly. If you play games like Apex Legends or Valorant, this cadence of releases should be familiar to you. Keller and Spector claim that other successful free-to-play games aren't what caused Blizzard to make this shift. Instead, they say factors like lowering the barrier of entry for interested players and not wanting to hold on to finished content played a part in Overwatch 2 going free-to-play.

"We don't want to develop things and try to pool it together into a big box release; we'd rather just put content out when it's ready and do it as quickly as we can," Keller says. "As we kept working on some of the more innovative gameplay for the PvE side of Overwatch 2, it meant that it was going to take longer for any of our PvP features to go public. We want to release stuff as frequently as we can, but it was taking us too long to be able to get it in front of our players."
The original Overwatch has floundered since it stopped getting significant content updates in 2020 so Blizzard could focus on Overwatch 2. By releasing the sequel as a free-to-play game this year, that long wait ends -- and players won't have to worry about it happening again for a long time. The developers also stressed that Overwatch 2 would feel more like a sequel than an update when it launches, thanks to the new content and rework into 5v5 matches. Spector explains that many systems fell in place simultaneously, like cross-play, cross-progression, and the seasonal model, so it made sense to lower the barriers to entry and launch free-to-play this year.
"We are dedicated to putting out content frequently and consistently in perpetuity."

Gaming

Overwatch 2 is taking pages from the Valorant playbook

Sojourn uses an ability in Overwatch 2.

Overwatch 2 should have been a surefire hit. The original Overwatch took the world by storm when it was released in 2016 and introduced a fresh take on the hero shooter subgenre established by Team Fortress 2. It had a healthy community, and its sequel would maintain that by not overriding its multiplayer base. In 2022, though, Overwatch 2 is both sorely needed and a controversial title.
In the years since its announcement, Activision Blizzard has lost multiple major developers related to the franchise and reportedly fostered a problematic work environment. Overwatch 2 has been delayed numerous times, and the original Overwatch hasn't received a super-substantial update in almost two years as a result. Fans have since jumped to games like Valorant and Apex Legends.
As the Overwatch community feels frustrated and abandoned and workers organize at Activision Blizzard, Overwatch 2 has lost some of its shine. That's why it makes sense that Blizzard is taking a clever marketing cue from one of its biggest competitors to stay relevant and keep discourse about the game in a place it's happy with.
Sojourn Gameplay Trailer | Overwatch 2
Where we dropping?
Overwatch 2's first PvP beta begins today, finally giving fans a taste of what they've been waiting for through many ups and downs. Players can sign up for a chance to get access to the beta on the Overwatch website, but that's not really the way Blizzard wants to attract people to the game. Instead, it wants players to watch several streamers play the game during a specific timef rame on April 27 to get a beta code via Twitch Drop.
Rolling out the beta in this way will drive engagement and discussion about Overwatch 2, which the game sorely needs. It's all pretty clever, but there's a catch: This has been done before.
Back in 2020, Riot Games had the challenge of introducing Valorant, a brand new IP that was quite similar to Overwatch. Previous Overwatch challenges like Battleborn and Lawbreakers had failed gloriously, and they weren't launching in the middle of a pandemic. It was a tough sell, but Riot Games managed to make its shooter the hottest title of spring 2020.
Leveraging some intrigue in the title and its League of Legends clout, Riot Games gave streamers access to the closed beta and made Twitch Drops the primary way to get beta access. This fear of missing out helped encourage many players to try the game once they finally got access and broke a single-day viewership record on the Amazon platform.
Closed Beta begins in EU/NA - VALORANT
And because Valorant is a well-designed and entertaining multiplayer hero shooter, players stuck around, and its popularity skyrocketed. Valorant is still very relevant today and has kind of taken Overwatch's place during Blizzard's dearth of updates for Overwatch and news about Overwatch 2. Blizzard is fighting from behind to recapture some of the same magic with Overwatch 2, if only for a day.
Defy the limits (of PR)
This Twitch Drop approach is a smart decision for Blizzard. Overwatch 2 has some stiff competition these days and needs to court hardcore fans back to the franchise after scorning them with a lack of updates. A limited-time stunt like these Twitch Drops will likely inflate viewership numbers and bring Valorant and Apex Legends players' attention back to Overwatch 2.
Blizzard was historically a company that charted its own path and found creative and unique ways to promote its games. Now, the best way to ensure Overwatch 2's success is to follow the competition during a beta period. On top of those benefits, this approach keeps the focus on the game itself, not the questions and problematic conditions surrounding its development.

How has Blizzard's workplace changed since the revelations about rampant harassment last year? How did Chacko Sonny, Jeff Kaplan and Micheal Chu's departures impact Overwatch 2's design? How will Microsoft's impending Activision Blizzard acquisition impact future support for Overwatch 2 and the studio as a whole? These are all significant questions looming over Overwatch 2 that Activision Blizzard would probably prefer not to address outside of highly controlled PR statements.
Now, most players will just be paying attention to the gameplay and excitement behind potentially getting a Twitch Drop with a code. Blizzard can generate hype through streamers who will signal-boost Overwatch 2 gameplay, likely without addressing or critiquing Blizzard's company culture and the game's troubled development. This approach, unfortunately, worked well for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and it now looks like Blizzard is seeing how well it works with Overwatch 2.
After years of waiting, it is exciting that some players will finally get their hands on Overwatch 2's PvP beta and hopefully help mold the game with their feedback. Still, these Twitch Drops make it abundantly clear that Blizzard needs to think outside the box to promote Overwatch 2 and attract new players after several controversies.